Change

• All change in organizations is belief change. So, create belief statements.
• PDCA has been around for decades and pretty much any feedback loop tool/method whether it be Toyota Katas, Agile Retrospectives and even Lean Startup are re-inventions of that cycle
• Each organization is unique and a custom approach to change is absolutely necessary
• change is really hard and unpredictable
• involve the people who are being asked to change in the change itself
• ADKAR method.

Organizations that take a mechanistic approach to managing work and people would likely go the route of a re-org because the hierarchy and structure is how work gets done. Organizations that take an organic approach to organizational design will watch how the structure emerges and that's a scary concept for many people. Spotify and Valve are great examples of that.

80% of change programs fail. Fail means negative ROI.

Trying to improve the practices of the engineering department without paying attention to the rest of the organization is similar to trying to change an organ within a body without understanding the impact on the rest of the body.

Sources

• Kotter
• Drucker
• Senge
• Peter Lencioni (5 Dysfunctions of a Team, Getting Naked)
• Heath brothers (Made to Stick and Switch)
• Virginia Satir
• Myers Briggs (and other Jung-based models like Discovery Insights)
• "Images of Organization" by Gareth Morgan (circa 1984) tremendously valuable as far as understanding organizational design patterns and structures
• Change Artistry—Essays on Change Artistry by Esther Derby.
• University of Tasmania » Coaching conversations for change (part 1)
• http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2013/09/the_more_things_change_the_mor_1.html
• 50 reasons why we cannot change
• HBR » Rita McGrath » The Pace of Technology Adoption is Speeding Up
• Seth’s Blog » Seth Godin » Done to us vs. things we do
• InfoQ » Craig Smith » Esther Derby on Language, Communication and Change