Agency Matters

When I talk about agency, I mean something between being a “go-getter” and a “self-starter” — but without the arrogance. Agency is the ability to get things done, to figure things out, and to move forward without waiting to be told exactly how.

Agency isn’t about ego. It’s about ownership.

Scrum is designed for complex work. That kind of work can’t be reduced to checklists, scripts, or rigid instructions. It requires people who can think, experiment, apply their experience, and adapt when reality doesn’t match the plan.

In other words, Scrum requires people with agency.

Why Agency Matters in Complex Work

Complex problems don’t come with clear answers. There’s no single “right” approach, and often no precedent to follow. That’s exactly why Scrum relies on empiricism — learning through experience.

To make empiricism work, teams need people who are willing and able to explore uncertainty, make decisions with incomplete information, and adjust when things don’t go as expected. This requires creativity, confidence, and trust — not hand-wringing or constant approval-seeking.

How Leaders Accidentally Kill Agency

This is where I get a little annoyed.

I often see leaders say they want empowered teams, and then quietly take agency away in small, everyday ways. They mandate a specific velocity. They insist on a particular Scrum board layout. They prescribe exactly how events should run.

None of these things are catastrophic on their own. But together, they send a clear message: we don’t really trust you.

When leaders remove agency in small ways, teams respond predictably. They disengage. They stop thinking. They do exactly what they’re told — and nothing more. Frustration grows. Performance often drops.

And then leadership wonders why.

Experts Need Room to Be Experts

We hire people to work in complex environments because they have expertise. They bring knowledge, experience, and judgment.

To allow experts to work effectively, we have to give them space to decide how the work gets done.

That doesn’t mean there are no constraints. In regulated environments, documentation may be required. Collaboration may require shared working hours. There may be security policies, compliance rules, or even dress codes.

Constraints aren’t the problem. Over-prescription is.

When Focus Goes Too Far

When leaders focus too much on process, they often create ineffective processes. When they focus too much on documentation, they slow value delivery. When they focus too much on compliance, they lose creativity.

Balance matters.

Scrum is not anti-discipline. It’s anti-busywork. The goal is to enable learning and value delivery — not to perfect the process for its own sake.

How Do I Know If I’m Limiting Agency?

If you’re a leader, of course you want to support your teams and promote organizational standards. But how do you know when you’ve gone too far?

One simple way is to ask the Scrum Master.

Another is to revisit the Agile Manifesto values:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

If most of your energy is spent enforcing the items on the right, it’s worth pausing. Are you enabling collaboration and learning — or constraining them?

Agency Promotes Performance

Low-performing teams are often low-agency teams.

One of the fastest ways to improve performance isn’t to add controls — it’s to give agency back, starting small. Let the team update their own board. Let them facilitate the Daily Scrum themselves. Let them decide how the board is organized and what level of documentation is actually useful.

When teams start taking agency in small ways, something shifts. Ownership increases. Engagement improves. And over time, value delivery follows.

Conclusion

If you want high-performing Scrum teams, start by protecting and encouraging agency — especially in small, everyday decisions. A leader’s job is not to prescribe how experts do their work, but to remove impediments and create the conditions for self-management.

This isn’t about being nice or creating a “feel-good” culture. It’s practical. Teams with agency think more clearly, adapt more quickly, and take ownership of outcomes. When people are trusted to figure things out, they usually do — and they often find better, more efficient ways to deliver value with far less hassle.

Scrum depends on agency. Take it away, and you’ll get compliance at best. Encourage it, and you give teams the space they need to do their best work.