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People will be more positive about your change when they see that other people are already
on board with it. If you can recruit early supporters, it will be easier to bring other people
around to your way of thought. The best way to convince someone to make that investment
is to show that there is already a consensus among the software experts in the organization.
The first step in generating consensus is to find people who also recognize the problem
that you are trying to solve. This should not be hard—if your organization’s problem is
serious enough to warrant a change, there will probably be other people around who have
noticed this problem as well. Put aside for now the fact that people may not believe you
have a real solution; it’s sufficient to start with a basic agreement that there is a problem.

Many people feel that change should either be “top-down” (meaning that the changes
originate from management) or “bottom-up” (meaning that they originate from the
team). However, while it is absolutely critical that you have the support of your organiza-
tion’s senior management before implementing a change (unless it is for a change that
affects only your project), there is no need to make this decision while still generating con-
sensus. If you can convince a senior manager that there is a real problem and that you
have a solution, that person will be a very valuable ally. But it’s also important to con-
vince people who are on your level in the organization. To many senior managers, the
most convincing argument is that several people who report to him agree on something.
This is why it is especially useful to get multiple people on different levels of the organiza-
tion to agree that your changes will improve the way software is built.

Once you have found people who recognize that there is a problem, you can work to
show them that you have a solution. An effective way to convince people to join your
effort is to show them that you are not just suggesting change because you don’t like the
way things are done: you are also helping them with problems that they wish would be
solved. Most people are never really asked if they are having trouble. Take the time to lis-
ten to each person’s complaints. If you can show someone that her problems are not her
fault but, rather, could be attributed to something external (like a lack of planning or
change control), she will be much more open to your solutions.

It’s not enough just to find people on the team who are willing to talk about their prob-
lems. There are many people who just love to complain about work. It’s easy enough to

get people like this to talk about what’s wrong, and even to acknowledge that there are
endemic problems. But once it comes time to make real changes, someone who has not
really bought into your solution may disappear from your effort at the first sign of resis-
tance. Also, beware of people who come around too easily—it may be that they are simply
easily swayed, and will abandon your effort for the next big idea that comes along.

Gathering allies is also a good reality check for your change effort. If you cannot convince
even a small number of people that there is a real problem to be solved, and that your pro-
posed change will solve it, then that is a good indicator that you will run into serious prob-
lems when attempting to sell your changes to the rest of the organization.
Give yourself a lot of time to do this. Organizations do not change overnight, and consen-
sus is not generated with a single meeting. It is important not to steamroll anyone. If

224 CHAPTER NINE