It seems only fair to begin with what I hope to contribute to this blog and to the greater discussion overall. The meaning behind the blog’s name may not be inherently and immediately obvious in spite of what people may think that it means, so let me start here.

Change is happening all the time, and there are many and diverse groups working toward making change happen. More people seem to be getting involved all the time, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the sheer and overwhelming number of challenges we face as a global community.

So why “yet another” blog about change? And what does “social change” really mean?

First, in spite of the number of groups working toward change, my personal feeling and perception is that most are highly focused on a single aspect.

Some groups are working on addressing poverty, others are working on issues of “social justice” such as gender or marriage inequality, issues of human rights, issues of sustainability or ecological import, issues around political reform (such as working to overturn Citizens United), and so many others.

It seems inadequate to address the issues as if they exist in a vaccuum and are unrelated, and I have not seen many sources looking at the issues from a “systems” perspective, where everything is inter-related and one change may not necessarily account for other aspects or unintended effects. (A counter argument could likely be made that change needs to happen, and if everyone attempted to take every factor into consideration, change would not occur at a pace rapid enough to overcome the pace at which challenges seem to rise.)

Coming from a software development background, and especially an Agile one, change frequently needs to occur at the pace of business. New challenges are continually arising and companies frequently need to be able to respond to market or customer changes. What happens is that the software is developed in an incremental fashion, produced from several steps of smaller changes which are combined to produce larger ones. In the end, a larger system is manufactured which has run through several cycles of testing and tweaking, and this usually occurs in a relatively short period of time.

What we need are better tools for making, measuring, and monitoring incremental changes in the social arena and a vision of how all the smaller changes can be achieved in such a way that the overall greater effect is to construct a larger, more effective system that benefits everyone. An inclusive model rather than an exclusive one. Issues need to be addressed and responded to as a whole, even if focused groups are responsible for implementing and monitoring individual changes.

What we frequently do (and I, myself, am as guilty of this as the next person) is to look at the existing system, see that things are not working, and talk about how we can dismantle it with the intention of replacing it with something that works better. We don’t often approach the system as a whole, or include even the majority of individuals in our vision of what should come next. Things are in the process of breaking down, and we are often becoming more divided when we need to become more unified. In many ways this works against the very things we are trying to achieve.

Finally, apart from simply attempting to help raise awareness and build connections between different aspects, groups, and solutions, this blog ultimately is about trying to empower and inspire everyone. We ALL have a part to play, and ALL have a place in what is to come. Let’s work on understanding one another more and on combining our efforts and approaches so that we can produce a system that works for as many people as possible. Each and every one of us can be part of the change, and what is produced will be all the better for it.