Project management entails steering a project task force to accomplish project goals within a stipulated period. Interface management is a critical aspect of project management that involves the project manager coordinating, scheduling, and controlling a project team at project interfaces. A project interface is a point of link between units working on a joint project. Efficient execution of the interface management procedure locates critical interfaces and efficiently monitors a continuing project’s progress. On the other hand, change management is a management concept that dwells on individuals influenced by a change. It is unified into project administration to effectively manage persons, recognize risks proactively, and figure commitment crucial to change implementation. This paper focuses on change management and interface management as critical pillars of project management.
Part: Interface Management
Interface management entails a raft of activities intended to explain, direct and communicate relevant material required for different projects to cofunction (Stretton,2016). The purpose of interface management is to enable arrangements with other project participants concerning roles and tasks and timing for availing interface data that is pivotal in locating critical interface in due time via an organized procedure. The motive is to manage central interfaces during project scheduling and accomplishment efficiently. Coordination and planning of the interface management is the job of the project interface manager. The project manager’s primary concern should be to ensure the project’s interface fruitful administration through proper control and organization of the project’s functional teams. The project manager’s principal task is to provide direction to the project taskforce to ensure successful interface managing.
Project interfaces are broadly branded into either internal or external interfaces. External interfaces are boundaries that a project has with exterior units. A project’s external interfaces maybe with the media, government, community groups, suppliers comprising consultants and subcontractors, competitors, finance, and the economic climate. On the other hand, internal interfaces are borders inside the project itself. They include technical interfaces, time interfaces, social interfaces, and geographic interfaces. Technical interfaces are those that managers can enforce to incorporate certain technologies. Time interface is executed to ensure accomplishment of one task before another commences. A social interface is levied to separate specific working groups. Geographic interface entails removing certain tasks from the site to pave the way for other production activities.
Technical, intangible, and organization are common types of interfaces. Examples of technical interfaces include; SFTP interface, Deferred web service interface, and Real-time Web Service interface. Intangible interface entails immaterial things like lack of self-assurance and influence, incapacity to build robust team relationships, and a manager’s incapability to inspire and instigate project changes (Dargin,2013). On the other hand, administrative interfaces include top and line management, computer programmers, technical support, customers, social contacts, line personnel, and financial system. The critical interface is a project management notion that aims to reduce project errors and achieve transparency and precision among project interactions. A project interface manager is tasked with designing, executing, and monitoring technical project essentials at every interaction section.
Part 2: Change Management
Project changes are a common occurrence within the project management arena. Change needs to modify the entire project by complicating the previous budget and timelines, influencing its entire quality. Managing scope and change is one of the daunting tasks that project managers encounter as they execute their project management mandates. It is always severe that some managers usually forgo sleep and family demands to ensure successful change implementation. In this regard, change management has led most managers into quarreling with their partners as a way of expressing frustrations in scenarios where change strategies fail to bear fruit. Effective handling of a change is a significant challenge to most project stakeholders, sponsors, and managers. Change is one of the most contentious issues within the lens of project management. It is usually the norm for most managers and stakeholders to evade change, for it is associated with certain unwanted traits like a strain on limited budgets. However, project change is unavoidable due to the intricacy of project settings and technologies. Therefore, project stakeholders, managers, and sponsors must set out elaborate plans to address changes to ensure that it doesn’t bring adverse effects to the entire project.
According to Hussein (2012), five everyday situations generally cause project changes. Firstly, unfinished or ill-defined necessities. Scope changes are a product of unproductive project necessity management. An elaborate task assigning requires specific determination of servers for relocation, specific inventory needs, and files that requires a transfer. It is crucial to the ascertainment of the amount of effort required for the execution of the project. Assumptions regarding the outcome of the project are usually set at the beginning of the project. Throughout the project phases, some or most of these assumptions may change to become the project requirements. Consequently, the ripple effect on the project is a radical change in project restraints. Therefore, a proper definition of project requirements is a joint responsibility of the project manager and his team to evade unnecessary project changes.
Secondly, issues regarding resources and outside factors. Money, time, people, and equipment are indispensable resources that must be present to ensure the smooth running of a project (Durdyev &Horsseini 2019). In connection to this, insufficient provision of these resources may trigger project change. A change will be required to guarantee the quality of the task. There are certain factors beyond the control of the manager or stakeholders that can influence the project. These outside factors can either be project precise or universal. For instance, a power outage occasioned by a fierce hurricane is not project related but can trigger change demands. Project management software installed in computers enhances project execution. Computers require power to function, and extreme power blackouts may result in unwanted changes like shifting to manual operations. Interruption in environmental preparation is a precise project factor that can significantly cause changes in project design. Thirdly, deviations in sponsor wants. Sponsors’ and stakeholders’ opinions may change concerning project deliverables, scope, and expectations. A change in such opinions alters project budgets and timelines. A change in this context can also result from sponsor resignations, which can adversely affect the project continuity.
Fourthly, scope errors cause project changes. Inefficient scope management is the route cause of scope creeping in project management. Scope creeping refers to uninhibited and unceasing progress in the project’s scope. Errors in the approximation and scheduling of work in the preliminary stages of the project results to project scope error. Improper time allocation in the early project phases is one of such errors. An incomplete work breakdown structure is another possible cause of the scope error which may trigger project changes. The effect is duplication or skipping of tasks and budget challenges. Improper timing can result in work completion before or after schedules, which have an equal share of effects on the entire project. Lastly, resource challenges also cause project changes. Project financing is pivotal to the successful completion of any project. The sponsor’s abrupt cut in supply of funds can cause adverse changes in project operations.
The project manager’s critical observance of the change management process is key to effectively managing change. Firstly, they must accept that change is inevitable and it has occurred (Harrin,2019). Change happens in almost every phase of the project life cycle. Change is crucial for it helps managers embrace additional agile tactics to project scheduling and implementation. Secondly, the managers should accept change requests. Project managers should never assume changes and must be proactive in noting them down for mitigation purposes. Thirdly, the manager should undertake a change valuation exercise based on the received change demands. Managers must assess the impact on the budget, resource accessibility, scope, and schedule. Fourthly, the project manager must formulate and then present commendations to stakeholders after a thorough examination of the change’s impact. Lastly, the ultimate decision on whether the change is good or bad for the project lies with the manager with the correct taskforce input. A collective agreement is essential regardless of the results.
Significant causes of delays on projects
Project delays result from various issues like labor shortages, poor weather, equipment failures, inaccurate data, and project team disagreements. However, the most significant causes of project delays include budget imprecisions, labor problems, lack of active communication and approvals. Labor is a critical requirement in projects, especially construction ones (Durdyev & Hossini2019). With the advancement in technology, plant operations skills are vital to specific projects, and there is a massive shortage of people with such skills. Poor communication between the project manager and his team can delay projects due to misunderstanding. For instance, when a project manager communicates to his team that a project requires three days for completion and it initially required two days, it will have to be delayed due to wrong communication. Budget imprecisions like misquotation of the project finances can cripple the project when understated. For example, when a manager budgets with a fixed amount of money and the project exceeds the amount, the project will have to be delayed to acquire more funds. Sponsors’ delayed project approvals can delay the entire project completion.
Significant causes of problems with quality on projects
There are diverse causes of quality problems on projects. They include; poor project planning, lack of supervision, poor decision-making, and bad attitudes towards project changes. Poor planning results when project managers make uninformed decisions from lack of consultations. For instance, a managers’ unilateral decision regarding budgets can adversely impact project quality. Supervision is vital to guarantee project quality. A scenario whereby the manager assigns tasks without monitoring is detrimental to project quality. An event whereby one or more project team members are against project changes can be harmful to project quality.
In a nutshell, interface management and change management are critical areas of concern in project management. Interface management entails project interface manager coordinating and planning project teams at every phase of the project. An interface manager must be proficient enough to identify any project’s critical interfaces to minimize unnecessary errors to achieve transparency in project management. Change management is another fundamental project management concern that managers must be well versed with, for change is inevitable in any management setting. Project managers must assess the impact of imminent project changes and adopt robust strategies to tackle the changes when they occur. Manager’s capacity to influence is a necessity to ensure proper management of change in project management.
References
Dargin, S. (2013) Making intangibles tangible: adapting project management tools for coaching. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/adapting-project-management-tools-coaching-5884
Durdyev, S., & Hosseini, M. R. (2019). Causes of delays on construction projects: a comprehensive list. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.
Harrin, E. (2019). Manage Changes on Your Projects While Keeping It All Moving Forward. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/managing-changes-on-projects-4041353
Hussein, B. A. (2012). Causes of change to project success criteria: a study based on project management practices in Norway. Project Management Institute.
Stretton, A. (2016). Project interfaces and their management. PM World Journal, 7.
