The Next Evolution - Enhancing and Unifying Project and Change Management

Just about every project professional agrees that "success" today is not just about being "on time, within budget, and according to scope" but one in which there is successful organizational change and the broad organizational adoption of project outputs and deliverables.  However, because the project management and organizational/behavioral change management disciplines are often practiced as seperate entities, the road to success often becomes divided, leading to poor outcomes for both the project manager and stakeholders throughout the organization.

"The Next Evolution" details a better way.  By integrating, enhancing, and unifying the latest, most effective practices from both the project management andchange management fields, project professionals will no longer have to rely on the ineffective practice of employing two separate methodologies to address the two most critical elements of project success:  task execution and successful stakeholder/change management (also known as the "people side").

It offers real-world insights and pratical solutions for:

• Business leaders trying to understand how best to achieve true business value, stakeholder satisfaction, and complete organizational adoption of their initiatives;
• Project managers looking to enhance the quality of project execution by augmenting their practices with tangible, more effective organizational change/stakeholder management techniques;  
• Change management professionals looking for updated approaches to facilitating change or need a clearer path on how best to integrate and leverage opportunities within a master project plan;
• Project professionals who need a detailed, comprehensive project life cycle methodology to deftly plan and execute a variety of initiatives;

Overview:

"Projects are the vehicles of change." As such, successful initiatives require deft execution (project management) and the proactive mitigation of human, political, and organizational change issues (change management).

Despite the fact that these two disciplines are critical to the overall success of any organizational initiative, these two fields are often practiced as separate disciplines. Each applies its own set of tools, techniques, and methodologies (and sometimes separate project teams as well!) to the same initiative. This inadvertently creates a schizophrenic approach to project success where critical interdependencies and joint opportunities are never fully realized. The results are unnecessary project expenses and delays, increased stakeholder frustration, and low rates of organizational adoption and business value realization.

"The Next Evolution - Enhancing and Unifying Project and Change Management" bridges the gap between project management and the practice of organizational/behavioral change management. Accompanying the book is "The Emergence One Method for Total Project Success"; a detailed, step-by-step methodology that integrates and enhances the most effective perspectives, approaches, and techniques of the project management and change management disciplines into one sequential set of activities. 

The book is divided in two parts. Part One - "The Next Evolution" discusses how most project and change management methodologies are hampered by outdated assumptions, legacy inherited deficiencies, and narrow perceptions regarding scope.  It also details why well-meaning attempts at integrating these two disciplines quickly become disjointed and frustratingly ineffective. It concludes by explaining why a unifying methodology is required if total project success is to be achieved.  In Part Two, "The Emergence One Method for Total Project Success", the complete, step-by-step, Emergence One project life cycle methodology is presented. Each chapter details the goals, objectives, key stakeholder management needs, and activities required to successfully complete each phase of the project life cycle, along with all the real-world insights and caveats necessary to execute with acumen.

Thomas Luke Jarocki is an accomplished project manager and change leadership professional who has logged nearly 25,000 hours working on numerous projects and change initiatives in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. With more than two decades of direct, on-the-ground experience, Thomas has gained the practical know-how and real-world insights often missed by researchers and other academic theoreticians.

Prior to becoming the Managing Director of Emergence One International, Thomas was the Managing Principal of organizational change for Oracle's ERP consulting practice before advancing to another prominent position at a Big Five consulting firm.  Originally from New York, he has a Master's degree in Organizational Behavior from Columbia University and was later a faculty member for the University of Maryland European Division.  He is also an active member of the Project Management Institute.