Changing and Improving

In my previous role, I led a change initiative to implement a new project management software, transitioning from Trello to Asana across the company. Here is the detailed approach I took:

Assessment and Planning:

Current System Analysis: I began by assessing our use of Trello, identifying its limitations and the specific needs of our team.

Requirement Gathering: Conducted meetings with different departments to gather requirements and understand their workflow challenges.

Tool Selection: Chose Asana due to its advanced project management features, such as better task dependencies, timelines, and reporting capabilities.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Buy-in: Engaged key stakeholders by presenting the benefits of Asana, such as improved collaboration, enhanced project tracking, and customizable workflows.

Feedback: Ensured that stakeholders' concerns and suggestions were incorporated into the transition plan.

Pilot Program:

Small-Scale Testing: Implemented a pilot program with a small team to test Asana and gather initial feedback.

Iterative Improvements: Made necessary adjustments based on feedback from the pilot team.

Training and Support:

Comprehensive Training: Organized training sessions for all employees, including hands-on workshops and online resources to familiarize them with Asana's features.

Support Channels: Set up dedicated support channels to address any issues and provide ongoing assistance during the transition period.

Full Rollout and Monitoring:

Phased Implementation: Rolled out Asana in phases to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruption.

Continuous Monitoring: Monitored the usage and performance of Asana, collecting feedback for continuous improvement.

Advantages of Asana:

Enhanced Collaboration: Asana allows team members to collaborate more effectively with features like task comments, file attachments, and team chat.

Improved Project Tracking: The timeline view and task dependencies in Asana provide a clearer picture of project progress and deadlines.

Customisable Workflows: Teams can customize their workflows with Asana to fit their specific processes, improving efficiency.

Advanced Reporting: Asana's reporting features offer insights into team performance, helping managers make informed decisions.

This change initiative led to a significant improvement in project management efficiency and team collaboration across the company.

Lessons

I learnt the people fear change usually because og the unknown and breaking a project into smaller chunks of changes are more encouraging and less uncertain.

You can’t assess all the rick of a change without pilot or experimenting it, staging or a prototype

The differences between traditional and agile methods

Agile can be very different for people used to traditional

waterfall methods⁠

for software development.

With waterfall methods the process is sequential. You start by gathering requirements, making plans and going through procurement processes. You then design the product and build it. In the final stage you test and release it to the public. It’s only at this end stage that you get feedback and find out if it works for your users. You only have one chance to get each part of the project right, because you do not return to earlier stages.

Agile takes a different approach. You do all these things - gathering requirements, planning, designing, building and testing - at the same time. You start small in the discovery and alpha phases.

You research, prototype, gather data, test and learn about your users’ needs before you start building the real service in the beta phase.

You only go live when you have enough feedback and data to show your service works for your users and meets their needs. You continuously learn and improve to build a service that meets user needs.

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