Change Is A Red Herring

All too often, Enterprise 2.0 advocacy gets bogged down in a futile side issue: change.To those that feel out of step with a large organization, change may seem appealing, like aloe vera for the sunburned. But for the great majority of people caught up in the everyday frenzy of day-to-day operations, change may be as welcome as a skunk at a picnic.Euan Semple recently made the argument that change for change's sake may alienate those whose support is most needed: senior management and those in change of the most central business processes.

So there is a very pragmatic allure to propose the use of Web 2.0 technologies to rapidly start making inroads on things that haven't been done at all, or in areas where a tiny bit of push could have big impacts.I interviewed Lee Bryant of Headshift (now Dachis) last spring and he made a similar point, although specifically he said the conventional wisdom that people resist change is simply wrong:

So, avoid arguments in favor of change as an innate good, and focus on practical and obvious areas where Web 2.0 technologies and business practices can quickly offer real and tangible benefits without disturbing mission-critical business processes or rocking the political boat.