Balancing Autonomy and Alignment—How Constraints Boost Creative Freedom

Hudl’s design team faced an unusual problem as the company grew: unbridled autonomy. Creative folks churned out impressive, innovative work—but without common ground, they constantly duplicated efforts and clashed on basic styles. Feedback cycles ballooned, deadlines slipped, and nobody quite understood how their work fit together.

Rather than crack down with micromanagement, the VP rolled out key rules: a shared design language, a single feedback channel, and clear scopes for each member’s decision-making. With these foundations in place, creativity flourished but stayed focused. Fewer designers accomplished more. Projects aligned, but unique touches remained. In short, the team stayed agile while avoiding the chaos of total freedom.

Research on autonomy versus alignment backs this up: tightly defined boundaries in key areas enable more consistent results and higher job satisfaction than all-or-nothing freedom. The trick is finding the minimum viable constraint—the smallest rule that keeps things humming.

Don’t fall for the myth that more freedom means no rules—chaos helps no one. Instead, choose the most important expectation for each of your main roles, then put a single helpful process in place to guide the work. This could be a checklist for delivery or a style template. Within those guidelines, encourage yourself (or your team) to experiment and solve problems however you choose. You’ll see more creativity, not less—and enjoy the stability of knowing the basics are always covered.