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"Scrum consultants stay way past their usefulness, turning into self-aggrandizing organizational vampires." s/Scrum/Management FTFY.

• SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  Do you really believe an organization could function with no management? Can you really not see the wholes that would create? The programmer attitude of "All management is bad. I'm better than everybody else in the company. I'm the only invaluable person in this organization." gets really old. EDIT: OK, as pointed out below, I'm an idiot (much nicer than my grouchy post...). I do feel strongly about the anti-management stance, but that was necessarily not what this reply was talking about. My apologies.
  • oconnore 16y ago
    Most management is bad, because most managers treat the function of 'management' as a separate domain/skill. Really, management is a combination of good people skills and a strong understanding of your product development & market.
  • dkarl 16y ago
    If you do the substitution, you get "management consultants," not "management." I think it's a valid statement. Business always needs management, but management consultants are only good for helping a business solve a particular problem or get through a particular change. Then they should get out of the way. Instead, they work their way up somebody's butt and sit there pulling checks, wielding unaccountable power that is inappropriate for their place in the reporting structure. It goes like this: 1. People do what the consultants say because hey, you're supposed to be learning from them. It makes sense. 2. Some recalcitrant people refuse to go along with any changes, and upper management puts out the word: "We're paying good money for these consultants. On my authority, do what they say." This still makes sense. 3. The consultants start meddling in things outside their original brief, just because they think they're smart and want to prove it. People have to live with it, so the consultants are gradually accepted as a generic part of the power landscape. This is the beginning of the pathology. 4. The consultants continue wielding power in a disruptive way as long as they can, because if the organization doesn't need their constant correction, somebody might realize it's time to get rid of them. This is the full-blown pathology: consultants actively disrupting productive work because it's the best way for them to stay employed.
    • SoftwareMaven 16y ago
      Ahh, you are absolutely correct. I jumped to my pre-existing stereotypes. Bad me. I actually have a negative opinion of most consultants (generally defined as people who tell you what you should do). I feel much better about contractors (defined as people who do what you tell them to do), but only in cases where it isn't your primary business competency being contracted.
  • jleader 16y ago
    I think api was substituting "Management consultants" for "Scrum consultants". I don't think api was criticizing management in general.