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Are you asking team members or maybe your entire company to change the way some aspect of software development is done? Today I\'d like to share why software development change initiatives fail all too often.

The first thing people are most familiar with around a change is the communication. This can often happen in a meeting where leadership or a project manager states \\u201cwhat\\u201d the change is. Though this is a necessary part of the process, it\\u2019s bare minimum.

The second thing people are familiar with is \\u201chow\\u201d the change occurs. What training, documentation, and other materials are needed to equip people with the tools or assets they need to make the process change?

Next, you\\u2019re probably familiar with how interested most teams and companies are in governance. That is, how do we know how many people are making the change, and how successfully? Though it\\u2019s important when doing software development that change initiatives are accompanies by measurable goals or metrics, the biggest piece of the puzzle still needs to be tackled.

To have the highest chance of a successful change, we must answer the question \\u201cwhat\\u2019s in it for me\\u201d? But from the perspective of each INDIVIDUAL we\\u2019re asking to make a process change or a tool or technology change. Before we can do that, we need to know people on a personal level.

And to do that requires spending TIME with people and getting to know their unique circumstances, history, and life struggles and goals.

When asking someone to make a change that in no way benefits them, often the best chance of success is to motivate them with some sort of reward. It\\u2019s a companies way of saying \\u201cwe\\u2019re sorry you need to do extra work or work differently, so here\\u2019s something we want to share to show how we take into consideration to burden this adds to your workload\\u201d.

In all other cases, understanding each person\\u2019s motivation, and what outcomes they might want to be supportive of a software development change initiative, is most often the key, CRITICAL factor in the success or failure of widespread adoption. People change most successfully when the reason for the change is not just communicated, not just understood, but aligned with their own goals!

You can also\\xa0watch this episode on YouTube.\\xa0

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