Developers' attitude toward new techniques is critical to the success of those techniques. In choosing members for a development team, management must select people who have a positive attitude and who are excited about the opportunity to become skilled with advanced tools.
Subtle Sabotage
There have been many cases in which developers who were firmly wedded to old techniques subtly sabotaged the introduction of new ones. It is all too easy for reluctant developers to demonstrate that new tools do not work. Many organizations have achieved low productivity with CASE tools simply because developers have not truly wanted to use them. These developers were comfortable with existing techniques and did not want to climb a new learning curve.
A Skilled and Highly Motivated Construction Team
One or more skilled and highly motivated Construction Teams can demonstrate the value of a new approach and can fine-tune the development life cycle to make it as effective as possible. The performance of these teams must be measured against that of other developers in terms of productivity, cycle time, and the quality of their work. Management should emphasize that salary increases and promotions will be based on measured achievements. After a time, the new techniques should be spread from the early adapters to the pragmatists.
Dealing With Early Failures
Sometimes a first attempt at rapid development fails despite a positive attitude on the part of the developers involved. When this happens, the cause of failure should be identified, the situation corrected, and another attempt made. The developers should never be penalized for one initial failure. On the contrary, they should be rewarded for a good try and encouraged to correct the problem and try again.
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Section Overview : Management
Overview : Table of Contents