Group norms

Earlier this week our Scrum team was discussing and establishing group norms. I've been through this exercise serveral times in different organizations and while the concept is great, they temd to get forgotten fairly quickly. This morning while I was walking my dog, I passed several people who had their dogs off leash although the rules of the HOA as well as the city ordinances forbid this.

so I started to think about group norms, HOA rules and laws and wondering why some stick and work and some don't. Is it that people inately chaf against "rules", is that they thing the "rules" don't apply to them, or do they just not care? When we were setting group norms, everyone participated and everyone agreed to them, so you would think that everyone bought in, but is that really true? In regards to laws, regulations and HOA rules, not everyone participates, but you could say that they "buy in" by purchasing a residence in an area governed by those laws, but do they really?

Is it enforcement of the rules/norms that make them work? Is it peer pressure, or is it something else? Personally, I believe that it is an understanding by all participants that whereas the rules may take away some freedoms, they grant others and those others are at least as valuable as the ones they take away. Maybe instead of enforcement, we should try education and if that doesn't work, then fall back on enforcement.

Unfortunately, enforcement is usually easier and sometimes cheaper than education!