Future Search is certainly a good deal more powerful than the feather that helped Dumbo the elephant to fly. But could WPI's pursuit of an improved first year have flown as far as it has without Future Search?
Do committees regularly achieve their goals? Are their ideas and recommendations implemented effectively? Do tensions between faculty and administration ever sidetrack the best intentioned efforts? Does failure to understand the student perspective ever lead to solving the wrong problem? Does lack of commitment from the entire community ever leave good ideas to wither and die?
Future Search can avoid those traps, but it can not put more than twenty-four hours in a day. Whoever is responsible for implementation after a search conference should be able to devote no less than half time to the job. If the problem is important enough to demand the time of sixty to eighty volunteers in a future search, then it is important enough to require that level of leadership after the conference.