"Lack of senior management buy-in" and "Resistance to change" came out equal amongst voters in the Process Cafe poll (Note: This poll is scientifically and statistically insignificant with the number of votes registered, but it's a good indication anyway)
So what can we deduce from this?
How about this:
A lot of people know in advance what the problems are going to be and they continue to let those problems rule.
Surely if there is going to be a lack of management buy-in to the change then the business case for the change hasn't been adequately proven. Remember the old IBM advert where the CEO asked the tech guy "Why should we do this?" and the geek responded, hesitantly "Every dollar you invest will save 2 dollars on your bottom line". Now THAT'S a business case that senior management can buy in to. If your project can't put up that sort of business case then you won't get the senior management buy-in and your project will fail.
Resistance to change would seem to be a bigger issue. But looking deeper down we find the same underlying reason.
There is no compelling reason for someone to changeIf I said to you "At the moment you are comfortable driving around in your Toyota Corolla, using $30 of gas a week and having the reliability you need, but I want to take your Corolla and give you a TVR. It's much faster, handles better and makes a nicer noise" Of course you're going to resist. You know it's going to cost more to run, more to service and will probably break down (TVR's have that reputation). So you are going to resist.
However, if I came to you and said "I am going to give you a new car, run it for you for a year, pay all the costs and ask for your feedback at the end of it" I guarantee you'll get less resistance to change. There's more of the 'what's in it for me' being displayed in that option.
Fundamentally resistance to change and lack of management buy-in are the same issue
So what projects are you working on at the moment that are displaying either of those traits...?
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