(I am still drafting this pattern. I envision it as some type of "abstract pattern" that serves as an "umbrella" to Paradigm Shift, Burnout Blaster, and other patterns that address the need to "adjust" (ugh, I need a better word!) attitudes. This "umbrella" approach is similar to what I did with Personal Touch and Internal Drip Feed.)

Context: The Dedicated Champion realizes the importance of stimulating an Attitude Adjustment towards patterns. They want to do this by helping people become conscious of the fact that patterns require a change in the organizational culture.

• Patterns can easily be viewed as simply a new way to format documentation which, in turn, requires very little change throughout the organization.
• Patterns require a paradigm shift in the culture.

Solution: Take opportunities during patterns training and information sessions to remove people from the comfort zone in which they have become entrenched within the organization. This can be done with games and/or other activities. Explain afterwards that the purpose is to plant the notion that patterns require a paradigm shift throughout the organization.

Rationale: When people become comfortable with their environment and situation, those that use this approach in the patterns community believe that introducing something individuals are not accustomed to seeing or feeling can wake them up to the realization that a change is brewing.

Resulting Context: Individuals begin to see signs that patterns are something different, something more than just a change in the way documentation is formatted.

• Jim Coplien of Lucent Technologies begins his patterns courses with a game such as rainstorm. He then explains it was a right-brained activity that required everyone to work together in a creative way.
• The PLoP community plays games throughout the PLoP conferences in the effort to allow individuals to feel more comfortable with each other, thereby promoting a sense of community.

Context: The Dedicated Champion realizes the importance of stimulating an Attitude Adjustment towards patterns because they see that individuals in the organization that have watched technologies come and go have "technology burnout" towards new ideas.

• Individuals who have watched new technologies and ideas come and go can find it difficult to become excited over the introduction of another one.
• It will be difficult to get individuals with "technology burnout" excited about patterns.
• It is necessary to get people excited about patterns if they are to be successfully introduced and sustained in the organization.

Solution: Recognize, verbalize and address this attitude. Phrases such as, "I know you’ve seen many new ideas come and go" will allow the individual to see that the person(s) proposing the idea is respecting, rather than ignoring, how he or she feels. This, in turn, has the potential to make them more willing to respect what the person(s) introducing patterns has to say.

Patterns can then be introduced as an alternative to what individuals already have. A good place to start is with the benefits patterns have over other methods of documentation. If they dislike the current mode of documentation (and most people can find some fault with it) they are likely to be interested in considering a new way. (Of course, patterns are more than simply a documentation method (see Paradigm Shift), but this is a good place to start in creating a concrete comparison and interest.)

Rationale: This pattern begins with the rationale that it is important to understand and address the attitudes of an individual when attempting to introduce him or her to a new idea. Rogers supports what he refers to as "client-oriented change," stating that change agents who are more feedback-minded, more client-oriented, will have closer rapport with and higher credibility in the eyes of the client he or she is attempting to convince.

This pattern further recommends that once the individual’s "burnout" attitude is recognized, it can be eased with an approach that attempts to show the relative advantage patterns have over other methods of documentation. Rogers supports the value in taking the time to do this. He has shown that the perceived relative advantage towards a new idea is positively related to an individual’s acceptance of that idea. Among the relative advantages that Rogers mentions, the two that may relate most to patterns, are: "a savings in time and effort" and "a decrease in discomfort."

Resulting Context: Individuals that are not open to new ideas because they suffer from "technology burnout" begin to consider the adoption of patterns.

• Mary Lynn Manns begins her pattern introduction sessions with this approach. She first verbalizes her recognition that attendees may be tired of hearing new ideas. She then asks them to list all the things that bother them about the documentation they currently use, and then summarizes the ways many of the issues on their list are addressed by the use of patterns.