Everyone loves to shout give teams autonomy

TL;DR; Autonomy alone is not enough; teams need clear alignment with strategic goals to deliver real business outcomes. In Scrum, tools like the Product Goal, Sprint Goal, and Product Backlog are essential for this alignment. Leaders should provide clarity of purpose so teams can be both autonomous and effective, avoiding wasted effort and missed objectives.

Published on 8 May 2025

Written by Martin Hinshelwood

1 minute read

https://nkdagility.com/resources/5nkzevV2xKG

Everyone loves to shout “give teams autonomy.”

What they forget is that autonomy without alignment is just local chaos.

In Scrum, alignment isn’t an optional management layer; it’s the strategic guardrail that keeps teams moving toward meaningful outcomes.

The Product Goal. The Sprint Goal. The Product Backlog ordering.

These are not paperwork artefacts — they are the heartbeat of alignment.

Without them, self-managing teams spin their wheels, deliver local outputs, and miss the mark on business outcomes.

It’s not the team’s fault.

It’s leadership failing to provide clarity of purpose.

Autonomy and alignment are not opposites.

Scrum, as a social technology, requires both.

If your teams are autonomous but disconnected from strategic goals, you don’t have agility — you have expensive local optimisation.

How are you ensuring your teams are aligned without suffocating their autonomy?

Also published on: LinkedIn

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