Effective Change Management in IT: How We Empowered Client’s Project

Change isn't just a buzzword. It's a reality every tech leader has to navigate, especially in complex IT projects, where even minor adjustments can ripple across teams, tools, and outcomes. In this article, we take you behind the scenes of our work where change wasn't just managed; it was led, step by step, with intention. Little theory. No empty jargon. Just a clear path through cooperation, smart communication, and business results that matter.

We fear change.

Change, by its very nature, triggers discomfort. It’s common and well documented that individuals experience a psychological dip when transitioning through change. At the outset, resistance prevails. People question its necessity or pretend it’s irrelevant. Frustration builds, productivity dips, and morale suffers.

It isn’t a flaw in the system. It’s human biology. Our brain values comfort, not uncertainty. Change always comes wrapped in uncertainty, even in complex tech projects.

Change process in the project. Where to start?

Fear, anxiety, and rebellion against the disruption of the status quo are natural emotions that can derail even the most well-justified business and organizational transformations.

However, awareness alone isn’t enough for the change management process. What’s needed is a conscious leader, someone who can guide the team through understanding and embracing change.

As Magdalena Woźniak, People & Culture Partner at SoftwareMill, explains:

"The leader’s responsibility is not simply to announce the change but to lead people through it. That means recognizing the emotional curve: the denial, the dip, the exploration, the adaptation. Effective leaders buffer the impact, creating space for conversations, outlining a safe path forward, and encouraging curiosity about the new reality. Their mission is to minimize resistance and ensure the team confidently reaches the adaptation phase."

It is crucial that everyone is on the same page throughout the change process to foster transparency and collaboration and ensure shared understanding at every step.

The 8 Steps for Leading Change

Science offers several proven methodologies for managing change.

For the project, we drew upon John Kotter's renowned framework, The 8 Steps for Leading Change. As you will see later in the text, we have implemented many of the model's assumptions.

Here are its core principles:

1. Create a sense of urgency - Help stakeholders understand why change is necessary. Without perceived urgency, momentum stalls before it starts.
2. Build a guiding coalition - Recruit early advocates, a small, committed team who believe in the change and will champion it from within.
3. Form a strategic vision - Articulate what the change will achieve, why it matters, and how it will unfold. Clarity breeds confidence.
4. Enlist a volunteer army - Share the why, what, and how widely and consistently. People need context to buy in.
5. Enable action by removing barriers - Identify and eliminate blockers, whether organizational bottlenecks or mindsets resistant to transformation.
6. Generate short-term wins - Progress must be visible. Early victories validate the effort, energize the team, and soften resistance.
7. Sustain acceleration - Reinforce progress, refine approaches, and push the change deeper into culture and process.
8. Institute change - Integrate new behaviors into routines, values, and systems so that change becomes the new normal.

"Effective change leadership begins by awakening a shared sense of purpose. It starts with a few committed voices, grows through a compelling vision, and gains traction through actionable plans and early wins. Momentum is built, obstacles cleared, and the new reality anchored: step by step, with clear vision and cooperation" - Magdalena Woźniak adds.

Change implementation in IT projects. How do we work?

As an experienced technology partner, our focus goes far beyond delivering what’s outlined in the contract. We approach each collaboration with a holistic mindset; one that values not just meeting expectations, but elevating outcomes. We care deeply about our partners’ long-term success, IT infrastructure, and risk tolerance, supporting their immediate project goals and broader business growth.

That's why we don't stay silent when we spot an opportunity to improve or optimize a customer's processes. We raise the flag early because meaningful change begins with clear communication.

Identifying and addressing business risk is a key part of our change management conversations, ensuring that potential impacts on the business are managed and mitigated from the outset. Our role is to help decision-makers understand that change is needed, why it matters, and what the potential benefits are. Framing the value upfront lays the foundation for effective implementation and sustainable results.

Here are the arguments highlighted by Rafał Wokacz, Project Lead & Senior Software Engineer, during the talk with the client's CTO:

"We focused on three key points: minimizing errors, shortening delivery timelines, and reducing the strain on developers. Manual deployments were time-consuming and prone to human error. They delayed changes reaching production, which led to misaligned environments and unpredictable outcomes. By automating those steps, we aimed to eliminate blockers and establish stability across environments."

It's worth highlighting that the client's existing process wasn’t flawed, it simply matched the needs of an earlier product stage. As the solution matured and entered a customer-facing phase, adapting to a faster, feedback-driven rhythm became key. Our proposed approach supported that shift.

Rafał's team collaborated with the client on implementing Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) using Feature Flags. While we'll discuss the specific changes later, let's outline the entire process first: from recognizing the need for change to successfully implementing it, ensuring the change was successfully implemented and met its objectives, which extended far beyond the initial conversation with the CTO.

Here's how we worked.

We defined the problem precisely

In every engagement, we start by understanding the current state, not only from a technical perspective but also in terms of business outcomes. We ask tough questions, examine system gaps, and validate assumptions with the client's team.

Our engineers, who are senior, independent, and highly accountable, don't just write code; they delve deeply into the client's goals, understand the business drivers, and help articulate the "why" behind the transformation. This approach ensures that we are addressing the right problem from the beginning.

Once the problem is clearly defined, a Request for Change (RFC) or other formal document is typically created to propose the change and initiate the approval process.

We build a coalition of change advocates

Change becomes more effective when the right people are involved from the beginning. Based on the situation's context, we identify potential allies, such as technical leads, product owners, and domain experts.

Engaging them in one-on-one conversations builds trust and collaboratively shapes the initiative. Our team takes the initiative rather than waiting for direction. We take responsibility, foster dialogue, and assist key stakeholders in embracing change by highlighting tangible business benefits.

We delivered change in measurable steps

A well-defined change schedule is essential. Instead of relying on large-scale rollouts, we implement changes methodically, step by step. By maintaining a forward schedule, we can effectively communicate upcoming changes to all stakeholders, ensuring transparency and minimizing disruption.

For recurring, low-risk changes, we utilize change models: standardized and repeatable plans that simplify and automate the implementation process. It includes tasks like setting up semantic versioning, automating pipelines, and performing initial end-to-end tests. Each milestone is crafted to be recognized and valued. Our focus extends beyond merely achieving technical success; we take ownership of the features, their implementation, and their impact on the client’s business roadmap.

We minimized frictions throughout the process

Our team takes a hands-on and self-managing approach throughout the process. We don’t need micromanagement or constant supervision. Instead, we track progress, identify risks, support developers, and maintain momentum with regular updates. Our engagement spans the entire change management life cycle, from initiation to post-implementation.

We view ourselves as partners in transformation, not just external contractors, and we are committed to the full scope of the project, not just our assigned portion.

We anchored the change for long-term value

Change is not complete until it has been adopted and internalized. We prioritize visibility through presentations, status updates, and timeline visuals to keep the change at the forefront. We encourage peer advocacy within the client’s team and support knowledge sharing to ensure that the transformation becomes an integral part of their culture rather than just a completed task.

As part of this process, we conduct post-implementation reviews, including a formal implementation review, to evaluate the effectiveness of the change, ensure that objectives have been met, and identify areas for continuous improvement. These reviews help address any related issues and facilitate ongoing process enhancements.

"After the change was implemented, I conducted a survey to gauge employee moods and gather feedback. Through a carefully designed set of questions, we were able to evaluate how the change affected work quality and overall comfort, as well as determine whether further improvements might be necessary" - explains Rafał Wokacz.

This is a descriptive overview of the change management process we implemented for our client. Let's now examine its actual effects.

Change management process in practice. Real-life outcome for our client

Here are the key changes implemented during the project at the client’s site. Our team proposed all initiatives focused on enhancing work efficiency. We designed these changes to improve IT service delivery, align with best practices, and address organizational change management considerations. The majority of these improvements fall under the category of organizational enhancements.

Implementation of CI/CD and feature flags

Before:

• Deployment of changes once a month or every two months, implementation of 10 to 15 changes;
• Deployment carried out manually by developers. The deployment process took 2 to 3 hours;
• Release of functionalities equivalent to deployment, i.e., once a month or once every two months;
• High risk of problems occurring during large deployments.

After:

• Deployment several times a week, small and incremental changes;
• Automatic deployment, developers only wait for information on whether the deployment was successful or not;
• Release as needed. Typically, functionality release takes up to 5 minutes;
• Low risk of issues with small changes.

Division into two teams

Before:

• 15 people at daily meetings;
• No common goal;
• Everyone reported their status, no interest in other activities;
• No effective planning.

After:

• Eight people in one team;
• Focus on specific goals;
• The team works in one functional area;
• Inter-team communication as needed;
• Short and concise daily meetings;
• Effective work planning for smaller teams.

Introduction of a decision-making process for architectural changes

Before:

• Lengthy decision-making processes, lasting up to four weeks;
• Lack of involvement of people other than the authors of the proposed changes.

After:

• Automatic acceptance of decisions one week after publication if there are no contraindications.

Systemize the role of the on-call developer supervisor responsible for handling problems in production

Before:

• Unclear scope of responsibility;
• Unclear rules for appointing the person performing the role;
• No one knows who is on duty in a given week;
• Blurred responsibility for responding to problems;
• No quick response to reported errors at the L2 support level.

After:

• Clearly defined responsibilities, set out in a document;
• A duty roster has been implemented, and everyone has access to it;
• Automatic notification on Teams about who is on duty for a given week;
• The person on duty is responsible for responding to and handling errors reported to L2 support.

Change management in IT projects: Sum up

Sometimes, meaningful progress means taking a step back and seeing the whole picture. In our project with the client, we built trust, not just features. As Rafał Wokacz said, "This goes beyond the scope of a typical development team, whose main task is to deliver features." We embraced the role of a technology partner with heart: a team that learns, understands, and takes initiative.

Let’s make things work better together

With a thoughtful CI/CD approach, the system became more stable, knowledge flowed naturally across teams, and the long-term cost of system maintenance decreased. The client could focus more on business growth, while we listened closely, adapted continuously, and improved together. To ensure effective change management adoption and change management success, we defined and tracked key performance indicators aligned with business goals throughout the project.

It’s a good feeling; making things work better for everyone.

Let’s explore how we can support your transformation. If you’re looking for a dependable, experienced team that brings solutions (not just delivery), we’d love to hear from you.