Introduction

This blog is a unique exploration identifying the intersection of IT and Psychology. It demonstrates the dynamic relationship between working in the IT industry and the human behaviour of how we perceive and implement change. Whilst this document is neither IT nor Psychology specific, it demonstrates the “dance” of how two worlds merge and how we embody these worlds symbiotically.

Setting the Scene - A Personal Observation

After 15 years in the IT industry, I have seen multiple shifts in Software Testing, which has been an interesting and challenging experience. As I reflect on my journey in Software Testing, I see how important it has been to keep studying and learning new concepts and ideas, and putting them into practice. It is so humbling to see new languages, models, theories and implementations being developed every year by the intelligent and courageous people who want to make a difference to the world we live in. Yet somehow we are expected to magically keep pace with all this constant change. We learn that sometimes implementations will be welcomed and businesses will experience great success and other companies aspire to be like them; they become the role models or “thought leaders”. On the other hand, we may experience concepts being born but not “taking off”, perhaps because they were born too early or people simply did not see the benefit.

Concept of Change

This brings me to the concept of “CHANGE” with a multitude of questions – to name a few:

• How do we change ourselves to accept the world around us?
• Why are we expected to change?
• Does it psychologically sit comfortably with us or does society expect it of us?
• Do we change to survive in an ever-changing world and mask who we are and what we need?
• Do we even like the change that is right in front of us?
• Are we changing to fit in?
• Are we excited about the new changes that are ahead of us?

Change can be implemented in two ways:

• We are the “thought leader” implementing the change.
• Change is forced upon us and we are expected to adapt.

When we implement change, we may expect others to “magically” adopt what we have implemented. We may not be cognizant of the other person’s experience or personal journey, perhaps the person does not wish to share their thoughts, or perhaps the person is not even known to us meaning we cannot receive feedback. This can make change difficult.

When change is forced upon us, this is when we have to survive in an ever-changing world. It means we need to be open to new ideas and concepts, but we must never stray from who we are and what we believe in. Sometimes there is a “silent fight” that occurs inside of us, but over time we slowly learn to accept why something is in place. We learn to openly discuss and ask “why”, which helps us to understand the world around us, and sometimes the fight is no longer possible and does not align with our inner desires. Perhaps our perspective will change with additional knowledge, or perhaps not. We can practise being okay with this feeling.

This is not necessarily just about the IT Industry, but about how we live our lives. We may be the “silent voice” in the background that is sceptical, or who sees the world differently. We may be the “overly excited voice” that fully embraces the change and wants to lead with others at the front because we can see exciting new prospects and how the change can benefit society.

Creating Context: Bridging IT and Psychology

Now let’s bridge the worlds of IT and Psychology together by exploring the interplay behind technological decisions and psychological implications. In the forthcoming sections, we delve into where these two disciplines converge, providing emphasis on the transformative aspects of change inherent to the IT industry. Integrating these perspectives and sharing my personal experience and observations, I aim to unveil valuable insights into the evolving landscape that shapes the IT industry today.

Academic Questioning

During my academic studies, lecturers would often explain their life experiences and would happily share their wisdom. I personally love to hear of people’s experiences/stories that they hold so dearly in their heart. Lecturers would often be asked “Why are you doing it?” (it = implementation of a feature or idea and turning it into software). They would answer from their own experience when people asked them this question. They would answer: “well…I want to make a difference and I feel it could really change how we work in the world,” “well…I’m just learning and I want to experiment and see where it takes me,” “well…I’m starting this project and I’m piloting how it will look and I require feedback for my concept to take off,” “well…because I can.”

The latter always made me laugh, and I never understood it, but using this answer throughout my life helped other people to understand that we can do something “because we can”. If we never try new things, we cannot change and grow as individuals or organisations. Change can be scary, but change can also be great. Change should be used wisely. We should really think about why we want to change, what prompts us to stare at the same piece of work, the same theory, the same working model, the same piece of code and ask ourselves “why am I repeating this activity?”

Changing to Survive or Thrive

Change can happen either unconsciously or consciously. Certain psychological processes can happen unconsciously in the background, but conversely, we can consciously try to adapt. When we adapt consciously, we change ourselves through our goals, continuous learning and self-reflections, to name a few. This helps us to venture into the concept of change and this makes us more adaptable and more resilient.

Change is constantly happening around us, and we have evolved as humans to adapt to changing circumstances. However, this is where some difficulties may present themselves as we can question why we change with ease or why we experience difficulties. This is where we can feel how we perceive the change and what impact it has on ourselves, our projects, our businesses, our industries and our society. We may be able to influence that change for ourselves or others around us directly or indirectly. We can also address our choices as to whether to accept, reject or challenge the changes in relation to our personal lives or the professional products that we are delivering for the IT industry.

Adapting to change is a natural process, especially in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world. Changing to survive does not necessarily mean we have to mask who we are or what we need, as it is essential to balance the new circumstances with our inner desires. Authenticity can create a genuine connection with ourselves and others who may be experiencing the same thing. We can be self-aware and flexible to our needs and preferences, which helps us to determine if we like what we see or whether we feel pressure to adapt.

Change can promote resilience, which helps us to deal with the uncertainty that it brings. Once we settle into the change, it can become our new version of “normal” and allow us to accept that we have to adapt to changes in the future.

Mentoring

Mentoring can be so important in experiencing and embracing change. A personal mentor sees the world differently from the perspective of the “other”. If you are lucky and have a super-wise mentor, they will help you see that it is not just about your perspective, or their perspective, but the perspectives of many, which uncovers many more paths for us to explore. Ultimately, our voice, our body language and how we perform the implementation have the potential to change the lives of many and they will be the next generation to pass on your wisdom with adaptations along the way, of course. After all, people like to make things their own.

Project Engagement

After working on a multitude of projects and sometimes multiple projects at the same time, each project requires something different. We have to change our approach; we have to actively listen to what our clients and colleagues need. If one client needs x, it does not mean the next client needs the same thing. If we delivered x to client number 2, perhaps they would be really unhappy because we did not meet their needs or expectations. This means we have the potential to change our approach, to listen to them, to create a rapport with them and create trust that if something went wrong, then it does not mean it was malicious or that it failed. Instead, perhaps we simply didn’t understand what was expected, perhaps it wasn’t right for us, or perhaps we didn’t yet find a suitable path to perform what was needed, but we still have the opportunity to return to that venture in the future. Even when things go wrong, we can change, the client can change, the individual can change and we can take this as an opportunity to enhance our collaboration and change how we work together. Ultimately, this message shows that we can learn and grow together by influencing and embracing different viewpoints.

Change Management is an important concept within the IT industry, encouraging us to think about the impact change has on our projects, any issues that may arise and how we communicate through an organisation. This implies that we need to think about the psychology of how someone/team/company will receive the changes and how it will affect them on an individual/personal level.

In the IT industry, it is important to be open to the possibility of change, as we understand that it is an ever-changing industry. Someone may feel that they have become an expert in a certain area, but then the next big thing comes along and suddenly a new set of learning needs to take place.

It is important on projects to earn the trust of the team and the client, as it promotes collaboration and helps create a supportive network when making changes. This promotes good feedback and helps to deliver high quality products.

Software Testing Changes

I have seen many changes in Software Testing. Manual Testing had huge importance 15 years ago, it fundamentally was framed within the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) using theoretical models such as Waterfall and V Model. We learned that we had to write test conditions, test groups and test scripts whilst documenting all our work. Many testers would not even engage in automation testing at that time. 15 years later there is a predominant viewpoint that automation is crucial in being a successful software tester. There have been changes to our titles, e.g. Software Developer Engineer in Test (SDET) or Software Test Engineer whereby there is an emphasis on the importance of being engineers. This means there is a focus on the technical attitudes behind our work. However, we must not forget the art of traditional software testing. That is an opportunity for a different blog for another day!

Software testing changes mean that we can add value to the software being created and use a context-based approach to promote quality within the work that we deliver. The feedback that testers give to the project is critical in ensuring that the products are meeting the requirements.

Artificial Intelligence - The Changing Landscape

The world changes again, we are now entering into the evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). It has been so prominent in the news and industry in the last 6 months and we can definitely understand that companies are evolving their businesses to keep up with the ever-changing demands. We might choose to embrace this new world or we may enter into resistance because we are not ready to change to this new way of living. As testers, it is definitely worth understanding what AI and ML can do and how it has the potential to change how we work. Again, we can explore this together in a future blog.

IT and Psychology Summary

The IT industry is constantly evolving through technological changes, consumer needs and market demands. It is often difficult to keep up to date with all of the changes. Advancements such as AWS, Cloud Computing, and Artificial Intelligence mean that the IT landscape is changing and creating new opportunities for businesses to operate with a competitive edge in digital transformation.

Change in the IT industry means that we need to scale our business models, offer greater flexibility and adapt to the ever-growing needs of society. Upskilling and re-skilling are particularly important, but only at the pace of the individual when they are ready to embrace the change.

In the last 6 months, I’ve personally learned that change is all around us. Forever we will change, society will change, industry will change. We can actively participate in change, or we can resist it forever or until we personally feel we are ready. We can even be a thoughtful observer as we have the opportunity to observe what is happening around us without judgement. Entering into silence is an important concept when we implement “observation without judgement”, which ultimately helps us to enter into more carefully selected decisions of how we would like to move forward with our lives, our careers, our businesses, our industry and our personal/professional lives.

Change can be difficult but finding our inner “Heartfluencer” (heart-centred leader who has potential in life) can help us embrace the changes that society moves us to, or even our inner self. We may be ready for those changes or we may not be ready. One day we might choose to embrace something different which ultimately forms our new paths forward, taking us on a different journey, a different adventure and providing us with different experiences. We may not like those paths, but at least we can stand proud and say, “I chose to explore and I now know what that path looks like for me.” Surely, this is better than having regrets, realising it is too late, or wondering “what if” during our reflective times. There will always be opportunities to explore, there will always be opportunities to change and make a difference, there will always be opportunities to say, “no this is not for me” or “I’m not ready for this yet” and there will always be an element of resistance somewhere in our lives - sometimes to the things that we need the most! I’d like to emphasise that being able to observe this and have compassion during changing times is so important for our wellbeing. It may also invite others to have compassion for their journey too, making us a true “Heartfluencer”.

I hope this blog helps you take a different approach to exploring change. Enjoy exploring your paths with a new perspective!