Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile

9.1. Build a Case for Change

Learning-induced change can happen without a specific case for change being made. This is typically incremental improvement and it occurs when someone sees an opportunity to improve the current product, processes or practices. It also happens when experimentation leads people to try something different.

This kind of change is good, because it leads to continual improvement and feeds the learning cycle: failure to change would stall the learning cycle. Sometimes it becomes necessary to focus on change itself rather than learning. This can happen when a more radical change is required, or when learning requires help from others. When this happens, it is necessary to persuade others of the need to change, and in order to persuade others you need to make a case for change.

As we saw in Chapters 7 and 8, you need to understand why change is necessary. You, yourself, need to understand why change should come about. Then you need to explain this to other people.

It is never enough for you alone to understand the need for change. At some point, you'll need to explain it to others. If you aren't clear in your own mind why change is needed, then it will be difficult to explain to others why they should change.

9.1.1. Find the Problems and Forces

At the start of any change initiative, we should ask: Why do we need to change? And we should look behind the answers to this question to find the forces at work creating the need to change. By understanding the forces ...