Change Management, Risk Readiness, and the Power of Adaptability

If you’ve managed a Salesforce project, you know one truth: the plan you start with will not be the plan you end with. Technology shifts, priorities change, and people move on. The key to project survival lies in Contained Agile Methodology Process (CAMP)™ Rule #6: Expect Any Weather: Be Ready for Change, Don’t Panic.

This rule is your guide to building resilience into your project DNA. It ensures that when change hits, your team has a process, not a crisis.

Change Management vs. Change Readiness

Many teams confuse these two concepts:

• Change Management: The formal process for handling proposed scope changes (which we'll cover more with Rule #7).

• Change Readiness (Rule #6): The proactive steps you take to anticipate and prepare for unforeseen risks, delays, or external forces.

Building a Risk Readiness Mindset

A CAMP project team views risk not as a terrifying black swan event, but as a predictable part of the journey. This requires:

1. Proactive Risk Log: Early in the project, facilitate a session to identify all potential risks (e.g., Key SME leaves, Integration point fails, Budget cut).

2. Mitigation & Contingency Plans: For every high-impact risk, define a Mitigation Plan (how to reduce the likelihood) and a Contingency Plan (what we do if it happens).

   Example: Risk: Key Technical Architect leaves. Mitigation: Document all core design decisions clearly. Contingency: Have a pre-vetted external consultant on standby.

3. The "Pivot" Ritual: Regularly review the project plan and be willing to admit when a path is no longer viable. Don't fall victim to the sunk-cost fallacy.

Lessons from the Trail: Adaptability Saves Success

We've seen projects saved by embracing Rule #6. For instance, one client had a massive security policy change mid-implementation that required a full re-architecting of the data security model. Because the Project Charter (Rule #1) defined the core business outcomes, the team was able to:

• Pivot: Immediately halt low-priority feature development.

• Re-prioritize: Focus all efforts on the new security requirements.

• Communicate: Use the established Team Rituals (Rule #4) to clearly update the Executive Sponsor on the delay and the necessity of the change.

By having a framework for handling unexpected weather, the team avoided panic and maintained control, delivering a successful, albeit delayed, outcome.

The Contained Agile Methodology Process (CAMP)™ Course gives you a structured, proven methodology for running risk identification workshops and provides the templates for building a living, actionable Risk & Mitigation Log.

Don't just react to change, prepare for it. Master Rule #6: ➡️ Link to CAMP Course: https://www.trailguidecrm.com/camp