Responding to a Denied Change Request in Project Management

Have you ever had a Change Request denied?

Handling the denial of a change request in project management can be challenging, but responding constructively is crucial for maintaining project continuity and stakeholder relationships.

My Recent Run-in With A Denied Change Request

Not two weeks ago (from writing this article), I experienced something that no project manager ever wants to have happen. The change request we submitted to our change board came back denied!

At first, I couldn’t believe it.

My thoughts raced.

“How could they do such a thing?“

I mean, C’mon – Some of the individuals on this board are stakeholders in the project!

“Why would they stop this one now from all the change requests we submitted throughout the project?“

But they did.

So what do you do during times like this?

Here are five effective strategies to consider when your change request gets DENIED:

1. Stay Calm and Seek to Understand the Reasons for Denial of the Change Request

The last thing you want to do in times like this is to lose your cool. Does yelling at someone sound like a great way to burn off some steam? Of course! But don’t do it.

You do not want to ruin a relationship that you will need in the future.

So, my first tip is to always “Stay Calm.”

Assess and Analyze the Change Request

The first thing you need to do is ask some questions. Why was your change request denied?

Did you:

Lack of detailed information?
Not enough justification?
Change too late in the project?
Relay the impact to the project’s scope?
Is the cost of the change too much?

Or was the change request denied because of:

Budget Constraints
Risk Considerations
Alignments with Project Goals

It is hard to analyze your next steps without knowing why the board denied your request.

The fix could be as simple as adjusting some basic information – but if you are in a situation like I was this week – they just say “no” because they disagree with the change.

Then, you need to start pulling out the right tools and evaluating the impact on your project.

2. Evaluate the Impact on the Project

Review Project Objectives

How will this denial affect your:

Scope
Timelines
Cost
Deliverables

You need to understand these impacts so you can make any additional adjustments needed to keep the project moving forward.

Avoid the urge to throw in the towel; you are going to be ok – it’s just time to put that project manager hat on and do some additional planning.

Update Your Risk Log

Here at Forty-Four Risk PM, we have a saying, “Being Proactive Over Reactive,” with the focus of that being on your risk management.

So, hopefully, you put a risk in your risk log that your change request could be denied. And in doing so, you have an assessment of the impact and probability of this coming back denied.

At this point, your risk will be realized, and you will need to move this to the issues section of your RAIDs log.

Adjust Your Project Plans

If you have a risk response in your risk log – Great on you!

If not, you need to start looking at your project plan – see if there is a way to accomplish your deliverables without the change.

Can you crash or fast-track your schedule? Can you shift around resources by reprioritizing work?

Deep dive into your project plan – and find a solution.

Back to My Change Request Denial Struggle

For me, our lack of approval by the change board meant that the project management team would need to do more work and do that work quickly.

Our request had less to do with the delivery of the project deliverable and sat in the overall governance category. We could avoid extra costs with no additional scope changes, but our timeline would condensed.

We needed some people to work fast and others to take in our documents for approval early.

Overall, we needed signoffs on a lot of documents, and we need them now!

We made the signatures, but there was work to get done during this time period in the gray zone of getting some of the approvals. One being the principle of keeping stakeholders informed – meaning we needed to discuss what was going on with our stakeholders.

3. Communicate Effectively with Stakeholders

It doesn’t matter what is going on with your project – make sure you are following your stakeholder management plan and updating stakeholders.

Updating Stakeholders

The Marine Corps has a Leadership Principle: “Keep Your Marines Info rmed”

So, just replace Marines with Stakeholders – and that needs to be your principle

“Keep Your Stakeholders Informed”

Be transparent about the denial, let them know the impacts (if you know them – hopefully you do!), and let them know what you are doing to remediate the situation.

Your goal should be to keep everyone informed, on the same page, and ready to help where they can – if they are willing.

Manage Expectations

You have a denied change request – so something within your schedule, scope, or cost needed a change. Without the change, it means that your goal to respond to the risk failed.

Therefore, your stakeholders need to know what this means for the project.

Make sure your stakeholders know what this means for the project.

Will you miss some timelines?
Will you need to move scope into another project as make-up work?
Will you bust your budget or need to dip into additional funding?

Whatever it is, inform your stakeholders about the change request denial. Manage their expectations and disappointments/frustration – and have a plan or tell them you will have a plan in the near future.

4. Explore Alternative Solutions

Brainstorming Alternatives

It is time to get the project team back in a room to start brainstorming options you can take.

Brainstorming breeds creativity – and your denied change request certainly calls for creative solutions to the issue.

During these brainstorming sessions, you might be surprised. Constraints in time, scope, and costs can bring out the most innovative solutions you’ve heard throughout the project.

Call it panic or desperation, but the team will provide solutions, you just have to listen to their ideas.

Submit a Modified Request

If, while analyzing the denied change request or through discussion with stakeholders – you find out that simple adjustments could shift it to a favorable outcome. Take the time to correct your paperwork and submit it again.

If submitting the request again, ensure you have enough time for the board to decide. Unless this is an off-schedule, special request – you might not be the priority requested change. Meaning you might not have time for a lot of questions.

Ensure that you take the concerns from the change request board earlier and address them directly. Do not leave room for additional questions or pushback.

And if you cannot convince them the change is necessary, then execute your response plans and track what happened. You will use this information to learn and adapt it toward future change requests.

5. Learn and Adapt for Future Requests

If you are not taking this opportunity to learn , you are doing yourself a disservice.

Yes, it is not a fun experience – it most likely is a stressful time, but you now know something about your stakeholders. You have found a limit of what they will accept for a change.

And you can pass along this information to others through lessons learned. And you can use it for yourself as a motivation to enhance all future requests to meet the needs and information requirements of your stakeholders.

Document Lessons Learned

Take the time to reflect on this experience.

What lead up to this point of a denied change request?
Why was the change request denied?
Who was the key individual who pushed for the change request denial?

You want to document all of these questions and the insights you’ve gained during your responses to the change request denial.

This documentation could come in handy to another project manager going through the change request process with the same change request board members. Or you could use it to improve your change requests in the future.

The big ticket item here, though – Document what you learned for future projects, so hopefully, this serves as an example and your next request comes back “approved”.

Enhance Future Requests

For project managers, when you work through what happens when a change request gets denied, you’ll be 100x more prepared for your next change request board during a future iteration or future project.

You have to do the work, though. Improve your documentation, your wording on the request forms, and your overall presentation of the material.

Taking away what happened, why it happened, and how to improve will allow you to enhance your future change requests. And, in turn, enhancing approvals of those change requests.

Your Denied Change Request Conclusion

When you make a proposed change to your project’s timeline, scope, or budget – you never want to see the change request come back denied.

Although a stressful and irritating time, if used right, it can be an extremely valuable learning experience. You can learn more about your stakeholders and your organization on how they respond to and expect you to provide details on your change request.

To review, when your change request gets denied, you want to:

Stay Calm and Find the Reason for the Denied Change Request
Assess the Impact of the Denied Change Request and Update Your Risk Log
Communicate the Change Request Process with All Stakeholders
Explore Alternative Solutions for the Change Request, even if that is resubmitting a new request
Document Everything for Your Project’s Lessons Learned

The important piece is that you take the time to learn from the challenges seen during the change management process.

My Final Lessons Learned - Don't Hate The Change Request Process

Having my change request denied frustrated me, but I do not hold It against the change board.

Too many project managers get upset and hold things against the PMO, Executives, and Other Elements that hinder their project’s success.

You shouldn’t feel that way, though – they are all just a part of the project management checks and balances system.

For me and my team members, we rebounded and made everything work out. It was not easy, but I think, in the change boards, infinite executive wisdom, they saw we could make it work. We only had to put in the time to figure it out.

Learn from these challenges, as every obstacle we encounter in our projects is just another step towards learning more about our trade and having more successful projects.

-Russ Parker