Why Change?

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Why Change?

  • I think a much more difficult thing to do is to convince people that some of the changes they propose (especially when it comes to tools) aren't actually improvements.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • Imagine you are trying to learn a subject.  For technical subjects there is a wealth of quality, free resources of which SQLServerCentral is one of them.  
    Where is the management equivalent of SQLServerCentral or StackOverflow?  How many companies actually train their management?
    At Shop Direct (merger of Great Universal Stores and the Littlewoods group) their CEO put in place a 3 year plan for change and recognised that for the change to work a huge investment in training would be necessary at all levels.  I was fortunate to go on some of the management courses that went with it.
    At my current place of work there are a lot of soft-skill/life coaching workshop opportunities.
    I think the non-technical changes require more of the individual for their lessons to deliver value but the potential is there.  For these courses you get out what you put in and put into practice. 

    Management education has to take place as part of a cohesive strategy.  SMART objectives have to be set that will require the use of the skills taught in the training courses and those objectives have to be part of the ongoing appraisal process for managers.  The other problem is that management is not a solo activity.  I can go and learn a technical subject in splendid isolation.  I can't do the same with management skills, they have to be practiced constantly.

  • Jeff Moden - Sunday, February 3, 2019 2:13 PM

    I think a much more difficult thing to do is to convince people that some of the changes they propose (especially when it comes to tools) aren't actually improvements.

    Absolutely! Recently someone at our organization decided that they didn't like where we keep documentation. So they deleted it. All of it. Then when they got called out on it, they had it restored somewhere else. After admitting to "moving it", they then denied having ever sent the email telling the team that they did anything.

    Oh, they are NOT in charge of documentation, but they just knew their change made everything better.  🙁

    Sometimes I wonder whether I had to deal with more children back in high school, or at work.

    Dave

  • Oh, this topic is near and dear to my heart. I've seen resistance to change even when it would benefit others, all my life. I've resisted change myself at times, even when it would benefit me. But never have I seen change as adamantly resisted as I have here. I've come to the conclusion that there are various strong forces that have a very vested interest in maintaining the status quo. However, even so I've been surprised to see the beginnings of interest in bringing about change. Its small and limited, but this sort of change hasn't happened here in decades.

    Steve, you ended your article by saying that inspiring "... others to join in and invest for the future is a skill". I admit that isn't a skill I have. I sure as heck would love to learn it.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • Rod at work - Monday, February 4, 2019 8:55 AM

    Oh, this topic is near and dear to my heart. I've seen resistance to change even when it would benefit others, all my life. I've resisted change myself at times, even when it would benefit me. But never have I seen change as adamantly resisted as I have here. I've come to the conclusion that there are various strong forces that have a very vested interest in maintaining the status quo. However, even so I've been surprised to see the beginnings of interest in bringing about change. Its small and limited, but this sort of change hasn't happened here in decades.

    Steve, you ended your article by saying that inspiring "... others to join in and invest for the future is a skill". I admit that isn't a skill I have. I sure as heck would love to learn it.

    Contrary to popular belief, I don't resist change.  I resist change that hasn't been proven to actually be better than the current tools.  In many cases, the only reason why someone is proposing a change is because they simply haven't invested any time to learn to use the current tools.  They're also not going to invest the time to learn to use the new tools and so won't be able to support those either.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • My other skill (apart from IT) is saxophone. Over the years I have noticed that if I can get my students to purposefully play a mistake it makes the mistake conscious. Then they can go about getting it right. If, on the other hand, If I just try to get them to play it correctly the success rate is much lower. This is akin to Steve's showing "video evidence" to his volleyball players. I think a lot of our IT or management practices are based in habits that were formed long ago. Sometimes habits are just bad habits, but often habits that were formed in a different set of circumstances that don't translate well into our current situation. Yet we just keep hammering away as we have always done. Until hopefully someone comes along and points out a better way or even a slight shift that makes all the difference in the world. A good work environment encourages this kind of collegial help between everyone involved in a project, and I've noticed that I have to be open to receiving suggestions as well as giving them.

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