Chapter 28. Affecting the pace of change
I’m in a lucky and rare position to have been with the same team for more than 10 years (more than half of the original team remains, although we are all greatly changed). In that time, we’ve come from chaos to self-organizing—the team is happy and effective and constantly challenges the status quo. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved. I think our only regret is we didn’t get there faster. Luckily, you’ve got the wisdom in this book to help you achieve that.
Ten years is a long time, more time than most teams get to become effective before they are outsourced. Why did it take so long? Agile development is all about shortening feedback loops. Perhaps, if we’d done feedback more aggressively, it might have helped, but on the other hand, too much feedback too soon can be overwhelming, causing anxiety and building walls. To facilitate change as a leader, you need to learn techniques to encourage others to adopt change while remaining a happy and effective team.
Ideas for change should come from within the team as well as from you. They come from reflection on what’s not right, and inspiration from other teams. Encourage the team to network at user groups, read blogs, and use Twitter and other social media. These resources make a huge difference to a team’s enthusiasm for change.