4 Diagram Types Your Change Management Process Needs

What is Change Management?

Change management is the way teams approach adding, removing, or changing some part of a system or process, from the initial request and exploration of an issue to development and implementation.

Depending on the type of change, this process could be spread out over weeks and months, or only days or hours as an emergency response to a pressing issue. It’s important to have systems in place to implement any level of change when necessary.

How Technical Teams Manage Change

For technical teams, the key to managing change is doing it in a way that doesn’t disrupt existing systems or services. Having a defined and tested change management process helps with this, ensuring that you have: 

• Reliability and predictability
• The ability to adapt to changing circumstances
• Reduced risk when issues arise

Typically, change management begins with a request. That request often requires evaluation and approval. Then, it’s either declined, or it moves forward into the implementation phase, where it can then be resolved or closed upon completion.

Technical teams often manage and respond to these requests with tools like Jira that help them organize and assign work along with tracking progress. Workflows, including approvals, can be set up directly in Jira as well.

4 Diagram Types for Your Change Management Process

Diagramming can be a tool to help you stay organized and communicate effectively throughout the change management process. Diagrams are easy to understand at a glance, and with Gliffy, they’re easy to create in just a few minutes.

Here are four types of diagrams that might be useful as you navigate change management in your organization.

Workflow Diagram

Workflow diagrams are your new best friend for maintaining a consistent, effective change management process. They help you visualize every step required to gain approval for and implement a change, so you can get the work done fast and communicate expectations to your teammates.

Jira admins know how helpful a workflow diagram can be for managing change – you can edit your Jira Service Management workflows directly in diagram mode. Having your change management workflows documented in an accessible location helps everyone stay informed.

Want to learn more about workflow diagrams? Check out our blog >>

Stakeholder Map

Change doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Along with affecting systems, every change also affects people, so you need to be aware of when to communicate.

Ideally, a communication plan is part of your standard operating procedure for change management, but to establish that plan, you’ll need to map out everyone within your organization who might be impacted by certain types of changes.

A stakeholder map helps you organize your thoughts and make sure no one falls through the cracks. You can map out how involved each stakeholder is in the project and at what point in the change management process they should be informed.

Learn more about stakeholder mapping and get started with a free template >>

Risk Analysis Chart

One of the most important steps in the change management process is analyzing risk. Risk can come as a result of implementing a change, but sometimes, there may also be risk involved in not making a change.

As you work with your team to minimize potential risk when evaluating a change, a risk assessment chart can be a valuable tool for you to organize your thoughts and communicate them to others.

An effective risk analysis chart helps you carefully consider the impacts of technological factors, people factors, regulatory factors, and more. You can assign a level of impact or likelihood to each factor to indicate the importance of each one in your decision-making process.

When you’ve properly assessed the risks, you can act with a higher level of confidence that your changes will not negatively affect the systems that your team uses every day and the services that your customers receive.

Learn more about risk assessment and get started with a free template >>

Decision Tree

Sometimes, change happens as the result of weeks or months of careful planning. Sometimes, change happens because an emergency needs to be resolved now. How do you handle difficult situations when they arise? 

Decision trees can serve as part of standard operating procedures that guide your team through challenging situations. Having defined responses to various problem scenarios helps you ensure quick and consistent service.

Learn more about decision trees and get started with a free template >>

Infuse Your Change Management Process with Meaningful Visuals

Is your team all-in on the Atlassian ecosystem? If so, Gliffy is the diagramming tool for you. It’s completely integrated with Confluence and built for technical diagramming first.

If you have a Confluence space linked to the Jira project that you use to manage change requests, your diagrams can be created and maintained there – it's easy for anyone to access so you never need to spend another hour searching for information from other, external sources of truth.

Ready to take your change management process to the next level with these diagram types and more? It’s free to get started!

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