Section 5.4. Making the Selected Change

5.4. Making the Selected Change

There are many things to consider when making the change, and they are the same issues that have always been important when making a change to the process. Primarily, you should plan for appropriate training, the time that training requires, and the time that will be required for the team to adjust. Any change in the process requires adjustment, and generally that learning curve temporarily reduces the team's efficiency. Planning for those factors demonstrates to the team that the change is seen as valuable and that the organization supports the concept of continuous improvement.

If you don't plan for an adjustment period and instead ask the team to continue to produce at the same rate during a change, this may damage the team's ability to assimilate the change. All changes cause some level of stress, but requiring the usual productivity increases that stress. Under these circumstances, the team is likely to revert to their previous behavior, and the change will not take hold.

Even when changes seem to affect only the development team, it is important that management and the customer know about the change and understand the direction in which the team is heading. The effects of the change (positive and negative) will be seen outside of development, and the ability of the organization as a whole to support the change is dependent on the degree to which its members understand the motivations behind the change.

Although the goal of this entire book is delivering software with agility, the philosophies behind this movement can be applied almost universally throughout an organization. Recently, testing teams, marketing teams, and even accounting teams have begun to use agile strategies. Making connections to external organizations can help both groups find creative ways to promote agility and enhance the health of the overall organization.