One link in an OSS chain reaction

Have you ever experienced an event where you realised that you’d spent the previous 10+ years doing something wrong (or at least incomplete)?

I had one such experience last Friday during a presentation by Roger Gibson, a Partner at Infosys Consulting.

Now you all know that I’m a passionate spruiker of change management on OSS projects, mainly because one of the biggest reasons for OSS failure is the lack of CM. You may’ve even noticed a recent article here on PAOSS relating to the techniques we can use to influence change.

My entirely random guess is that about 95% of people in OSS focus primarily on the technical aspects of what’s being implemented, leaving only 5% who’ve grasped the significance of influencing change. My lightbulb moment on Friday came in realising that there’s actually also a 1% group (to be honest, it’s probably far less than 1%).

As an external consultant on most projects, I’ve generally figured that client representatives have far greater tenure and more ability to influence change within their organisation than me. My modus operandi has been to create change strategies and persuade the project team (plus key stakeholders) to start change initiatives as early as possible.

In effect, I’ve been delegating change responsibility. l now realise that’s not going far enough. It is MY responsibility to light the fire under every project I work on – to initiate the chain reaction.

Do you agree that it’s also YOUR responsibility to light the fire under every project you work on?
To quote Wayne Dyer, “It’s never crowded along the extra mile.”

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