Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile

Chapter 10. Individuals and Empowerment

"Everyone is talented. Every healthy man has a deep capacity for bringing to development the creative energies found in his nature."

—Josef Albers,^[] 1888-1976, artist

^[] Quoted in Borchardt-Hume (2006).

All change involves people, so every attempt at creating change differs because it never involves the same individuals twice. Different organizations employ different people. Even if, by chance, you get the same individuals in your team as once before, they are still different people – they're older, wiser and have been through it once before.

When you start to introduce change, people will react in different and perhaps unpredictable ways. None of the ideas presented here can be guaranteed to work for your change initiative in your organization. That said, people share common characteristics, and over time common patterns, themes and reactions can be observed. While no technique can be guaranteed to work, there are many that may help.

It's essential to remember that each person is an individual. Their fears, passions and experience will all be different. We can generalize about people and teams, but each individual will be different. Each person has potential and brings his or her own talents; everyone deserves respect as an individual.