Overlooked Cost of Project Change

Change happens! It’s not a bad thing if you control the cost. But some change cost often gets overlooked. Here are costs you should examine before approving a project change request.

• Cost of additional process decisions and handoffs. Changes might affect the business processes for using your solutions. If decision points are added to business processes, calculate the cost of these steps. For manual steps, include the probability and cost of human error. For automated steps, consider the cost of maintaining and testing technical interfaces.
• Cost related to more stakeholders. Cost increases are common when you add stakeholders to your project. Additional stakeholders means more communication paths for you to manage. You might also introduce more differences of opinion or feature prioritization issues. This can slow progress for your original stakeholders, which can lead to conflict and — more for you, the project manager, to manage. 
• Cost of extra technical complexity.  The cost of technical training, application support, and expanded testing requirements can be substantial.  End users need to be trained.  Additional technology increases the cost and time needed to deliver project outcomes. Make sure it’s worthwhile.
• Cost of managing vendors. Project changes might require contracting with a vendor. That contract cost adds to the total project cost. Also, you must consider the cost of managing the contract. Keep in mind the increased cost of managing multiple vendor contracts, especially when one vendor must work directly with another. You must manage each vendor and control the relationship between them — to ensure you get the proper products or services.

Have you run into cost you didn’t foresee due to project changes? Do you have tips for identifying change cost? If so, share with us in the comments section. 

For more about change control, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

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