Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile

7.1. Defining Change

Change means bringing about some form of transformation: making one thing into another thing. A steel mill changes iron ore into steel. The software development process changes requirements first into program code and then into executable software. These types of change are routine: we create factories and processes to bring about these transformations.

Such routine changes are frequently referred to as transactional change, or just transactions. In these cases we understand what needs to be done and how to do it. On the whole, each transaction is performed in the same way as the previous one: variation tends to be regarded as a bad thing, because it disrupts predictable processes and can lead to quality defects. Reducing variability can improve quality and efficiency.

Arguably, if all you do is transactions, then you don't need any managers or any change. The role of managers is often to improve transaction handling. Competition and market forces mean that those organizations that can perform similar transactions more quickly or more cheaply will succeed over those who cannot. Therefore management seeks to create a second kind of change to improve transactional change.

This second form of change is by definition non-routine: it occurs occasionally. Radical change, also sometimes called transformational change, seeks to improve the processes, practices and people involved with transactional change in order to gain competitive advantage. Technology has played ...