Improvement vs Change

[banshee858]

As I was reading my copy of XP2E, I was struck by the first
sentence "XP is about social change" and that prompted my to reflect
on my efforts to create a more Agile environment for myself. It has
been my experience that many organizations want improvement, but I
have yet to encounter one who wants social change. If that is the
case, am I just seeting myself up for an exercise in frustration
where eventually I just decide to change my environment?

If an organziation does not identify with the need for social change,
what hope is there for XP, or Agile in general, at that location?
What characteristics of organization suggest it is ready for social
change as opposed to merely improvement?

Carlton





------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
$4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/nhFolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Keith Ray]

Some organizations want improvement, so they are not against change a
part of their company-culture. It would be better for a person like
you to go to one of those orgs rather than try to inflict change on
your company's static culture from below [assuming you're at a low
level in your company].

If you are a high-level executive, "molding" the corporate culture is
part of your job; creating a culture that values agility is something
you can do by hiring, training, leading by example, etc.

Post by banshee858
As I was reading my copy of XP2E, I was struck by the first
sentence "XP is about social change" and that prompted my to reflect
on my efforts to create a more Agile environment for myself. It has
been my experience that many organizations want improvement, but I
have yet to encounter one who wants social change. If that is the
case, am I just seeting myself up for an exercise in frustration
where eventually I just decide to change my environment?
If an organziation does not identify with the need for social change,
what hope is there for XP, or Agile in general, at that location?
What characteristics of organization suggest it is ready for social
change as opposed to merely improvement?
Carlton

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/nhFolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Tim King]

... "XP is about social change"... It has
been my experience that many organizations want improvement, but I
have yet to encounter one who wants social change.

Hi, Carlton. My experience has been similar, and Agile practitioners are
not the first to see the need to be able to change. Any innovation
implies change. In fact, the most successful innovations capitalize on
change. And any time you take the initiative, you are doing something
different than what everyone else in the organization is doing; hence,
again, change.

But people in general fear change. "Better the devil you know," and so
forth. And many workplaces are driven by fear. However, I have also seen
collaborative, initiative-driven, teamwork-driven environments. The
latter are not always resistent; they do change parts of their process
as they see the need arise, in order to improve the process. Most
workplaces are mixtures of these extremes, sometimes embracing different
values at different levels.

I don't know to what extent you can change things where you work. That
question is a pandora's box. It depends on your position and your
relationships with others in the organization as well as your skills and
personality, how savvy you are, how persistent, how fireproof. In any
case, I wish you the best in whatever course you choose.

-TimK


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
$4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/nhFolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->