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5 Tips to Handle New Requests During a Project

New requests during the middle of a project are known as ‘scope creep’. You need to set up a change management process from the start. Not having a system in place to handle new requirements can lead to increased time and cost.

Here are some tips that can help you to effectively handle new requests that are made during the middle of a project.

1. Assess the Change Request

Before making any changes in the project planning, it’s important that you first assess the nature of change. Assessing the change requests will be easier if you first categorize them. For instance, you can categorize the change request as per the following.

• Major changes that are urgent
• Major changes that are not urgent
• Minor changes that are not urgent
• Minor changes that are urgent
• Changes to add new features
• Changes to remove existing features

Assessment of project changes by categorizing them will help in prioritizing the work. In other words, it will ensure that important changes are tackled first before moving on to less urgent changes.

2. Prioritize Changes According to a Pre-defined System

The changes should be prioritized through a ranking system. A pre-determined ranking system will help in objective prioritization of the work. Keeping the system as objective as possible will minimize errors in prioritizing the work.

3. Capture the Change in Work Management Software

Once the change request has been approved, assessed and prioritized, the next step should be to reflect the changes in the task management software. Make sure that the project planning window accurately reflects the new changes. This will help in communicating the required changes effectively to the team members.

4. Remain More Flexible

Flexibility is important to ensure that the changes are easily incorporated without any problems. For this purpose, agile or scrum project management is generally recommended. These project management approaches can help in prioritizing and implementing the changes effectively. They are flexible in approach allowing project managers to incorporate the changes quickly without much effort.

5. Re-evaluate the Risks

After every addition of change, it’s important to re-evaluate the risks. Make sure that the project risks are accounted for after incorporating the extra requirements. Find out how the change request affects the project. Determine the additional risks that occur due to the change request. Once the risks are identified, the project manager should modify the risk management plan accordingly.

Changes are inherent in almost all types of businesses. You should make sure that the changes are assessed and properly accounted for before moving forward. The changes should be incorporated in a systematic manner. The project manager should ensure that the project plan is adjusted, the tasks are modified, and the risk management plan re-evaluated.