El Kahuna

As a proponent of Agile development methods I am supposed to recognize that change is inevitable and to therefore embrace it. In the context of software development this idea is supposed to free the developer and the customer from a rigid, signed off requirements document and allow them to alter their plans as the system evolves.

Change is also inevitable organizationally. The old story about three envelopes appears to drive every “big stupid” company I’ve had the pleasure of working for. In many cases the only thing that changes is who your boss’s boss is. You still work at the same desk, you still work with the same people, you probably work on the same project.

Regardless of how change happens or when it happens, pain is change’s constant companion. Most likely something isn’t going right (or at least as well as it should) and someone in the organization decides that things must change to address the issue (pain). In my early days of trying to implement Agile Methodologies across the company we would often discuss that unless a group felt they had a problem, they would be resistant to change. That is, if they felt no pain, they had no motivation to change.

Now that was a long winded way to get to the point of this post. Somewhere in your organization someone feels pain and now here comes the change (envelope number 2). The question is…do you like your pain slow, or do you like it quick? Should the new process / organization be implemented as a rapid paradigm shift or as a series of small incremental steps?

I have lived through paradigm shifts and am currently experiencing a slow change. I am finding that I would just as soon have someone rip the band-aid (plaster?) off already. Because experiencing each incremental pain, knowing that there is more yet to come is killing me. Be done with it already. Let’s get to the next steady state quickly. Let people adjust (or not) to the new reality and move on.

What do you think?

Many people assume that my passion (or obsession) for wearing Aloha shirts on Friday stems from that popular geek cult film Office Space. “If you want to go ahead and wear a Hawian shirt and jeans”. But that isn’t the case. For me its about a memory. In February of 2000 we took a vacation (or holiday depending on where you are reading from) in Lanikai, Oahu, Hawaii. One of the most relaxing and beautiful places I’ve ever been to. White sand beaches, lovely little shops in nearby Kailua, snorkeling, sea kayaks…priceless.  As an aside, Lanikai is where Ann Margaret drops off Elvis in the film Blue Hawaii.

Anyway, after two glorious weeks we returned to the snow and the cold.  The following Friday I wore my new, straight from Hawaii (with wooden buttons), Aloha shirt.  It was my way of reminding myself that only a week before I was relaxing on a white sand beach with a good book and a cold beer.  And thus began an obsession.  Every Friday is Aloha shirt Friday.  Every Friday is a reminder that I work to live, not live to work.

This is my first attempt at creating a blog. I have been trying to encourage people who work in my area to write more. Writing is a habit, and like all habits it is best acquired earlier rather than later. (Best can be debatable in the context of say smoking, still if you start young it’s hard to stop). We give people financial rewards for publishing articles and giving public presentations as a mechanism of that encouragement. Most likely the reason that you have heard of <insert you favorite geek celebrity> is because they have bothered to take the time to write down what they think.

The other day one of the directors in our organization asked me why I wasn’t blogging. Well, I didn’t have a good answer (especially as he has a rather well known blog http://confusedofcalcutta.com/). I have always meant to start (just like I mean to loose this spare tire). So the cross roads of do as I say, not as I do and “pressure” from above have led to this foray.

Why El Kahuna? It is an amalgamation of nicknames that I have had recently (it sure beats Dirt Mole). I always liked Kahuna. We had a boat named the Big Kahuna when I was quite young, and I’ve always liked the thought of being an evil witch doctor. The other was L.K. () or elK. Plus, hey it was available.

Right so let the journey begin.