Principles & Phases - c3Dr
c3Dr is a principles based framework, not a rules-based prescription.
The founding principle of the framework is that change management is a specialist art, and that those practising the art should be experienced, competent change professionals.
A competent professional will be right more often than a rule.
Change Managed. Change Delivered.
The c3Dr framework is built on a set of principles which underpin the processes, tools and techniques.
In summary, the principles are that;
- managing change is an art, not a science; success requires capable practitioners.
- doing the right thing is always more important than doing the thing right.
- the framework applies to all change activity; programmes, projects and small change.
- all resources will always be constrained, so prioritisation will always be necessary.
- any successful framework must reflect the culture of the organisation using it.
- the framework has an active and effective Change Management Office at its centre.
The c3Dr framework is built around five distinct phases, four of which run sequentially, with one (Reporting) on-going.
Create > Define > Develop > Deliver and Report. Hence c, 3D, r
There are three formal governance/approval gates between each of the four sequential phases, the primary purposes of which are;
- to challenge the validity and value of a proposed change before any significant investment is committed
- to confirm that a proposed project is properly defined with a full set of valid plans (including, at this stage, benefit realisation planning)
- to authorise delivery of the completed change into the business-as-usual organisation
In addition to these formal governance gates, the Change Management Office (CMO) maintains an active oversight of all change initiatives across their full lifecycle, with the authority to convene additional governance reviews if necessary (for example when an early corrective intervention might be required).
Creation of change demand will be almost continuous.
Change demand may be prompted by regulatory requirements, by short-term tactical opportunities, to achieve strategic objectives or just because change is a constant.
c3Dr helps organisations build a balanced change portfolio, structured to meet the range of demands with explicit prioritisation decisions rather than by responding to loudest voices, pre-defined budgets or short-term pressures.
Governance Gate 1:
This is the fast-fail gate.
Assess whether the proposal merits investment for the Definition stage.
Defining and planning change is not a quick and simple task.
This phase can appear to be a period of delay before "the real work" starts, and pressure can be applied to accelerate (or even completely avoid) this work.
The roots of most failed change initiatives can be traced back to inadequate definition and planning. This is the absolutely necessary foundation stage for any project. You don't start building a house until the foundations are in place.
The Governance Gates before and after the Definition phase will remove the weaker proposals and the inadequately thought-through plans.
Governance Gate 2:
Is the proposed solution and set of plans realistic and achievable?
Thorough critical challenge prior to releasing the next stage of funding.
The Develop phase is typically the longest, and receives the most attention.
The team is working, progress is being made, money is being spent, risks are being managed, issues are being resolved and deliverables achieved.
Just because a project has started (and money has been spent) there is no guarantee that it will complete, nor complete in line with original expectations. c3Dr defines the intervention criteria, timepoints and responsibilties to guide projects through this phase and to their conclusion.
c3Dr is agnostic to the project management methodology adopted. It can be integrated with waterfall, agile, or variations thereof. c3Dr also integrates with Software Development LifeCycle processes.
Governance Gate 3:
Likely to be a series of mini-gates throughout the Develop stage.
Final gate assesses change readiness and implementation plan.
Whilst described as a "phase", deliverables will happen throughout a project.
Deliverables must be proven against requirements and expectations, the organisation prepared to receive them and the benefits realised.
The delivery phase of c3Dr contains the tools and processes to guide change management, delivery and benefits realisation.
Review Assessment:
Conducted some time after project completion.
Assess benefit realisation and process effectiveness.
How do we improve our change capability and outcomes.
Reporting activity is continuous, at different levels of detail and scope.
Reporting is a core responsibility of the Change Management Office.
Within c3Dr, reporting requirements are varied depending on the size, complexity, criticality, risk profile (etc) of a project. Data collected must have a clear value to justify the cost of its provision and collation.
