The Art of Agile Development, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER FIVE

Invest in Change

You’ve decided that Agile will make your teams more successful. You know which zones have the best cost/benefit tradeoffs. You’ve figured out which investments your company needs to make. Now, how do you make it happen?

Understanding Change

Change is disruptive, and introducing Agile is no exception. Exactly how disruptive it is depends on how many teams are affected and how well you manage the change. If you have one team that’s eager to try Agile with your organization’s full support, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. If you’re trying to change 50 teams in an organization that’s unfamiliar with Agile ideas…well, now it’s a very big deal.

One way to understand how people respond to change is Virginia Satir’s Change Model, shown in Figure 5-1.¹ As the figure shows, there are five stages to a change. Here’s how they apply to Agile:

1. Late Status Quo. This is the pre-Agile way of working. It’s comfortable and familiar. Everyone knows what’s expected of them and how to do their job. Some people aren’t completely happy, though, and they think Agile will help. They push for change.

2. Resistance. The people who want change start getting traction, and some sort of Agile change becomes likely. This is called a foreign element. People start responding to the possibility of change. Many oppose it. They say Agile is unnecessary, unlikely to succeed, or a waste of time. Some are angry. The more people affected, the more resistance you see.

3. Chaos. The Agile ...