Consult and Run: Galactic Observations, Zero Impact
(Because Feedback Without Action is Just a Very Expensive Opinion)
Entry 26.9 from The A to Z Guide to the Agile Galaxy
“He came, he commented, he invoiced, and the teams were left with a Miro board full of vague tension and no map home.”
🛸 The Consultant Who Observed the Whole Galaxy (and Fixed Nothing)
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, there is an immortal being named Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged.
Cursed with eternal life and a lot of free time, he dedicates his existence to the noble task of insulting every sentient being in the universe, alphabetically. He shows up, delivers the insult, and moves on. No conversation. No resolution. No care.
And that, dear traveler, is what many consultants do with feedback.
They observe.
They "surface insights".
They quote a few frameworks.
They nod sagely.
And they’re gone before the team can ask:
“Okay… now what?”
🌀 What Is a “Feedback-Only” Consultant?
A galactic expert who diagnoses without staying for the medicine
A PowerPoint priest delivering divine observations from orbit
A master of stating the obvious in impressive vocabulary
Someone who points at the fire and leaves before finding a bucket
They don’t build.
They don’t coach.
They just… observe.
Like Agile Wowbaggers, on an infinite mission of mild disruption.
🚀 What Happens When You Actually Stick Around?
Observations become coaching moments
Insights turn into experiments
Teams feel supported, not judged
Change gets co-created, not dumped on a Notion board
The feedback loop actually loops
Also: trust emerges.
And with it — progress.
☄️ What Happens If You Don’t?
Teams feel exposed but not empowered
Reports pile up in unread folders
Leaders get “clarity” with no capability
Problems are named, but not owned
People roll their eyes at the next consultant before they arrive
Eventually someone says:
“We’ve had five assessments this year.”
And someone else replies:
“Cool. What changed?”
🪐 What Happens If You Do It Wrong?
You deliver feedback at people, not with them
You outsource responsibility
You become a professional critic of things you’ve never tried to fix
You offer no path forward, just elegant diagnosis
You leave confusion and dashboards behind
Also: if your main deliverable is a PDF titled "10 Observations from the Field" with no follow-up plan…
you’re not consulting.
You’re agile haunting.
🌠 How to Be More Than a Feedback Specter:
Stay long enough to help something change
Ask what help looks like, not just what’s wrong
Coach, support, mentor, don’t just evaluate
Treat feedback as the start of a relationship, not the invoice trigger
Remember: your impact is measured in what improves, not what’s observed
Because true Agile work isn’t about spotting flaws.
It’s about helping teams move through them, with strength, clarity, and courage.
From the Guide:
“Observation without support is just celestial nagging.”