Change Resistance in Continuous Integration: An Exploratory Case Study

Abstract

With continuous integration (CI) becoming more and more widely adopted among software organizations, tackling the resistance during the change process becomes an important and inevitable step. This paper attempts to identify the change resistance in adopting continuous integration and its corresponding mitigation strategies. The research is conducted in order to answer two questions; 1) What are the factors that trigger resistance to adopting continuous integration? and 2) Which are the mitigation strategies for the identified reasons for resistance? To answer these questions, a case study was conducted at Ericsson AB where the CI drivers, line managers, change leaders and cross-functional team members (XFT) had been interviewed. The results found fall under 4 forms of resistance; social, organizational, cultural and technical. Most of the resistance factors covered by social and organizational are concluded to be general resistance to change and not specific to CI, while the factors in the cultural and technical are specific to the organization and the adoption of CI. Some of the mitigation strategies for resistance such as workshops, setting up small goals, involving more people were identified and proved to be effective but the remaining resistance factors are still to be eliminated.