Critical Path
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Risk matrix

Likelihood × impact drives the response

Risk & Quality

Change Control Without Bureaucracy

A lightweight change process that protects the baseline while keeping the project responsive.

5 min readPractitioner#change#governance#baseline

Change control is not about preventing change. It is about making sure change is a decision someone made deliberately, with the cost visible.

  1. 1Capture the request in writing with the business reason attached.
  2. 2Impact-assess against scope, schedule, cost, risk and quality — all five, briefly.
  3. 3Decide at the right level: the PM inside tolerance, the change board outside it.
  4. 4Update the baseline and re-communicate. An approved change nobody re-planned around is worse than a rejected one.

Related PMI standards & templates

External resources on pmi.org — links open in a new tab. Some require PMI membership.

PMI standard templates for this topic

Editable Word and print-ready PDF downloads — no sign-up required.

  • Project plan pack template →A PMI standard project plan template pack: the nine-section plan document plus a schedule worksheet with duration, dependency, float and milestone tabs.
  • Project status report template →A PMI standard project status report template with a RAG summary, milestone and budget tables, a filled-in example and the decisions block sponsors actually read.
  • RACI matrix template →A PMI standard RACI matrix template with a section-by-section walkthrough, a filled-in example and the one-accountable-owner rule that stops responsibility arguments.
  • RAID log template →A PMI standard RAID log template with risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies in one register, a 1-25 scoring key and a filled-in example you can copy.
  • Stakeholder register template →A PMI standard stakeholder register and engagement plan template: power/interest grid, current versus target stance, and the channel and cadence for every group.
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