Succeeding with Agile

Chapter 6. Overcoming Resistance

In a 1969 article in the Harvard Business Review, Paul Lawrence noted that change “has both a technical and a social aspect. The technical aspect of the change is the making of a measurable modification in the physical routines of a job. The social aspect of the change refers to the way those affected by it think it will alter their established relationships in the organization.” When facing resistance, there is a tendency to emphasize the benefits of the technical aspect of change. After all, we are already convinced ourselves, so it’s easy to assume that all we need to do now is to convince others. Lay out the perfect intellectual argument in favor of the change, we think, and people’s resistance will vanish. ...