Here’s the dirty secret behind many “agile transformations”:
The organisation claims alignment, but what they deliver is control.
They dictate priorities, assign tasks, predefine solutions, and then slap a “self-managing” label on the team.
This is a lie.
In Scrum, autonomy isn’t about teams doing whatever they want. It’s about teams deciding how they will meet their goals.
Alignment defines the why and what.
Autonomy gives the team ownership of the how.
Without autonomy, you create learned helplessness.
Teams stop thinking, stop improving, and stop caring.
You get compliance, not commitment.
If you want adaptive value delivery, you must let go of the how.
Align on goals — and then get out of the way.
What parts of your system are still holding a death grip on the how?
If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Slicedbread
Boxit Document Solutions
Ericson
Philips
DFDS
Workday
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation
Hubtel Ghana
New Signature
Trayport
Qualco
Microsoft
Akaditi
Milliman
Big Data for Humans
Freadom
SuperControl
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Ghana Police Service
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Washington Department of Transport
Nottingham County Council
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)
Epic Games
Freadom
Deliotte
Kongsberg Maritime