Change and Resistance
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Change and Resistance
A few thoughts on transformation, and the push-back that goes with it.
Midjourney prompt: a circuit board broken up into functional layers, each layer separated from the next, as if to showcase each layer. Highlight resistors on the circuit board with warm colors, and the rest of the board in cooler colors. Use a watercolor style, and an overhead view.
The purpose of change is to analyze current behaviors and anticipate different outcomes. So what happens when you’re stuck in an endless cycle of repetition? Can you identify the meaningful change between those cycles? If not, what’s the common culprit?
Product owners, managers, and engineers end up questioning the process. Everyone looks around and points fingers. The transformation is a failure, and we slide back into bad habits of delivery: 6-month delivery cycles, an over-analyzed product queue, unhappy (and likely anxious) customers, unhappy teams, and the list goes on.
There’s likely resistance in the system, and no one bothered to look. Something is pushing back, but how do you go about identifying it? No amount of analysis will give you a direct answer. On paper, things might look fine (or they might not). What the data doesn’t show is what people do.
How they interact.
How they feel.
Your approach might be to create a clean slate and start something new. This could work for a bit, though everyone can still feel the resistance. DM’s and private slack channels have been created to discuss the failures of delivery, and a mob of resistors has been created.
Okay, so that didn’t work, let’s try something new. This repeats endlessly.
People get disgruntled.
People then leave.
What if you tried a different approach? What if, instead of a clean slate, you were inclusive? What if, you talked to your teams, and hashed out any fears that might surface? Wouldn’t the outcome be different?
You would at least know, and right away, the negotiable areas for your teams. Then you can truly understand.
How they interact.
How they feel.