Rationale for the change

Change can happen in many ways and there is so many factors involved. As mentioned on my favorite leadership blog: Leadership in Practice, change fails when employees dont grasp the rationale for the change. By rationale meaning the why in the change. Why is it happening? Does the change only happen because some leader have found out that this should be better for the employees or its the latest hype? Head over there and read the post, it's a good one.

As i commented on George Amblers blog, it is more than just the rationale in change. It's the what and how as well. Many of these decisions should be taken by the employees afflicted by the change. They should know best how to perform changes. At least most of the time.

Maybe its naive to think that way, but to believe in people make them do incredible things.

Are the customer involved enough?

A while and several blog drafts since my last post now, but here it is.

The question is really, are the customer enabled to be involved enough? While we are quick to think if the customer are participating in creating the backlog or the sprintlog. By this having ownership in the decisions made. Not long ago on InfoQ Little and Spayd gave their views on agile and organisational change and they mention the importance of the customer being part of the agile process if the deliveries are to be successful. This is very true, but are they ready in their organisation to handle the deliveries?

As the Agile Manifesto principle states: Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. This assume that the customer are able to handle these deliveries at the pace they are coming. Further the manifesto claim that Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. If we are to adhere to these principles we have to enable the customer to also become agile in their process of receiving the delivieries.

To take a practicle example of this I can relate to my current project which is in the process of implementing a more agile approach. Agreements have been met and deliveries have been delivered, but the receiving end are not able to handle the deliveries at such a pace. They lack both the manpower and the routines to test the deliveries thus bringing us back to how it was before. The team cannot keep on delivering while the tests are not being managed and we have to set a new pace. A good article on Agile Journal describe this scenario as candy coming faster on the conveyor belt, it creates trouble handling them.

This shows that agile processes sets new demands to the organisations not only where the deliveries are being produced, but also in the receiving organisation. Now you have not one, but two organisations that has to adopt agile. The question is are the customer involved enough to make that change?

Being a change-maker

"I always wonder why people do not understand what is good for them". The phrase is a common one.

Many of us have surely read books on culture and knowledge sharing, but find it difficult to implement the theories in practice. It is difficult and rightly so. Culture is about people and handling people is difficult, much because we are individuals with a different viewpoint, background and desire. These three elements may seem obvious, but why is it then so often forgotten?

Viewpoint
People involved in different work have different viewpoints, they see issues related to their context. How can I have any use of this in my work or situation.

Background
Often people that work together have different background and experiences. They might have had different work-experience or even a totally different upbringing.

Desire
Most people have an idea of how they would like to work or how their work should be performed and organised. Many feel that they do not want anything to change because they are comfortable with the way things are now.


In my daily life I find these three elements important to think of when handling with people. When trying to change something in your workplace, these elements will help you getting started on the positive side.
If you know the viewpoint, background and desire of a person which is involved in a change process, they will help you to find a way to influence this person positively. Apply to the desire by highlighting the benefits that can fulfill the desire. Use models, images or stories that can be related to their background so the person can identify with it. And use examples that is directly connected to their viewpoint.

There is of course a lot more to be said on this subject, but could bee a good starting point for creating ownership for the change-process in the individual.