We just had an interesting discussion about how to introduce change to a development team. The talk was around how some changes actually hurt productivity before they make things better.
Martin Sahm, a colleague from ThoughtWorks, shared a simile that I thought was funny and helpful. Some activities are like bowling. You don’t have to be an expert to still score some points and enjoy your self. If you keep at it, you will get a lot better, but it is an fun and rewarding experience even for a beginner.
Other activities are like snowboarding. Most people that are good enough snowboarders to stay on their feet think it’s vastly more rewarding and fun than skiing. But it’s not something a beginner will immediately enjoy. You will fall often and hard before you get to the point where you see the benefits.
In agile, some things, like stand ups and CI are for the most part bowling activities – very little effort needs to go into them before you see the benefit. Other things, like TDD and time-boxed iterations are more painful, and require commitment and skill before they pay off.
Being aware that you are introducing a change that will make people fall on their bum might change how you go about introducing that change.