Matrix of Change
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Step 2: Walk through identifying a system interactions

At this point it may be helpful to discuss how a change management team might approach the problem of identifying a system interaction.

As mentioned previously the purpose of the system interaction matrix and the transition matrix (discussed in Step 3) is to identify practices and processes which are reinforcing or competing. A plus or minus sign does not indicate 'good' or 'bad' merely that one practice complements and reinforces another (in the case of a plus sign) or it competes with or balances another practice (minus sign).

Stepping back to the change management team of UPS. Imagine that they are discussing the various system interactions between their target practices. The team is quite knowledgeable with most of the proposed practices and is able to identify most of the interactions (all reinforcing in this case). However, let us say that they are unsure about the interaction between the Electronic tracking system and the Call Center Support and Configuration to Order practices. One portion of the team believes that the Configuration to Order practice will add complexity to the information system, and the other feels that the Electronic Tracking practice makes it easier to configure orders and provide customer support by being able to reassure the customer as to the location of their order at any point.

At this point they mark the interaction with a '?'. This can be done by double-clicking the interaction and entering the various points that each member of the team made and marking the interaction with a question mark.

This serves many purposes:

  1. Identifies this interaction as an action item for the team. They know that this is an area which needs investigation and they can plan a meeting, or discuss the issue with domain experts.
  2. It serves to capture all points of view, and allows everyone involved to see what the points of each argument were. By doing this the parties can be assured that their discussion was recorded and will be addressed later when more information is available - progress can be made on other issues.
  3. If the change is not progressing as planned, the discussion can be re-evaluated to see if there are any salient points which were made or overlooked.
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