This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.– T.S. Eliot
Did you ever wonder if this is the future of Scrum? Will it eventually go out with a whimper? I think a lot of people fear this fate for everyone’s favorite framework. Go to a conference or follow your favorite luminary on Twitter and you hear a chorus of “That’s Scrumbut!”, “It’s FrAgile”, or “Welcome to Scrummerfall!” And maybe that’s the way it has to be. Perhaps all great new ideas eventually become diluted in a sea of mediocrity.
I think I hear a longing in some to fight such dissolution. To resist the forces of corporate entropy. Rather than try to fit in, they urge us to confront and overturn the system. You know, subvert the dominant paradigm? Confronting this dissonance is the difference between making a living and actually living.
I wonder if that’s the difference between those who “fire” their customers and those who stay and work within the system. Are those consultants who give up and declare, “These clowns aren’t ready for Scrum.” going out with a bang? And what about those who stay? Are they afraid to make the big moves and just content to fit in? Whimper. Or are they more subtle than that? Can you embrace your client and still change them? Perhaps the “bang” approach is quicker, and more decisive. And maybe, just maybe, remaining engaged is very, very hard, but yields results in the end.
I know, I know…why so bleak? Well, I feel this tension a lot in our weird little community. I’ve been on both sides of the engagements where a respected consultant has tossed their hands in the air and walked away from the engagement because “They just don’t get it.” or “They’re not ready yet.” And I’ve been that poor fool, laboring away within the system, living on a meager diet of optimism and the occasional conference, trying to make change happen. I won’t pretend to know which approach is right, or even when to use these strategies, but I think it would be worthwhile to understand this issue better.
Agile Tools 
I think we need both approaches for making most changes.
Someone banging the doors while stating “you just don’t get it”,
While someone else explains what she means.
Just like I think that good consultants , should do both.
Good point. Good cop, bad cop?
All consultants (and even internal champions) have the same challenge, whether they are introducing Scrum/Agile or any other significant change. As much as people may gripe about the way things are, changing is harder. Whether “firing” or “fitting in” approach is better, they both need allies who are embracing the NEED to change along with the change itself. Without those allies, it’s just one champion alone in the storm and that’s not likely to work.
I really appreciate that. I agree, change doesn’t work without partnership.