Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile

8.8. Motivating Change

Each of the models that we have looked at in this chapter starts with a steady state. Yet something happens to move the organization or individual from the status quo to another state. Something has to happen to cause change: this might be an internal force, some external event or someone aspiring to do better.

By its nature, external change happens outside of the system considered in the models. Within an organization, there needs to be a mechanism for signalling external events. This mechanism could be money, as when cash flow declines people start to look for things that have changed. Or this mechanism could be someone who sees the change and signals it within the organization. In either case, there's an external reason to create a change. When the motivating force is internal, it can be more difficult to motivate people to change.

For any change to happen, a number of people must want it to happen and they must be prepared to act to do things differently. They must motivate others to change. Actually motivating people to change is one of the first problems that anyone trying to introduce change is going to face.

8.8.1. Push-and-pull Motivators

There are many reasons why we might want to change, and there are many reasons that we might give to other people to encourage them to change. Broadly speaking, these break down into two types: push motivators and pull motivators.

Push factors include aspects such as fear, existing problems and competitor actions. ...