Change management in action

Change is a constant. With the never-ending emphasis on evolution and advancement, every initiative I am involved with could benefit from a change management approach to program design. Changing programs requires cultural change even more than the obvious changes to processes. Many years ago when running a large organisational cultural change project, I started using John Kotter’s 8-step process, as pictured above.

Many of us engage with Kotter’s eight steps intuitively – identify key drivers for change, enlist the help of key influencers and early adopters, utilise short-term wins to gain support for long-term goals etc. However, it’s worthwhile deliberately considering a framework like this to ensure all aspects are covered.

The international research software community is well down this path. There has been much work undertaken to increase understanding of, and support for, the key role played by research software in facilitating research outcomes, and to build skills and frameworks to develop sustainable research software. Guiding coalitions exist through collaboration between organisations like the Sustainable Science for Software: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE) and the Software Sustainability Institute. Many people are involved in this change through initiatives such as the Science Gateways Community Institute and Software Carpentry, and short-term win examples include Force11’s Software Citation Principles and the ELIXIR-led discussion on Open Source Principles for Research Software.

These are all leading towards large-scale cultural change around the valuing of research software. It’s an excellent example of how to institute advances, utilising both policy and community-driven initiatives