Do you have High Agency? (PWW #11)

When writing and reading about product management it can be easy to get sucked into discussions about frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, LeSS, etc) or what roles are needed in a team. Or what's the perfect way to manage your backlog (spoiler: delete it). And of course the age-old discussion: how can you actually "own" a product within a large field of stakeholders?

Today I want to zoom out a bit. Because at the end of the day: a great framework does not build a great product. A neatly groomed backlog does not build a great product. And even a perfectly resourced team does not necessarily build a great product.

The single biggest predictor of a product being successful? If the team (and that definitely includes the PO/PM) has High Agency. And no, I don't mean hire an ad agency where everyone is high "Mad Men style"...

This article was originally published in my newsletter.

What is High Agency?

Let's first start with the term "agency". I'm not talking about a web or marketing agency, but personal agency:

Agency is?the sense of control that you feel in your life, your capacity to influence your own thoughts and behaviour, and have faith in your ability to handle a wide range of tasks and situations.

So what is High Agency then? It's an individual being able to take control of themselves and approach tasks with a high degree of self-confidence and optimism. People with High Agency generally don't take "no" for an answer.

"When you’re told that something is impossible, is that the end of the conversation, or does that start a second dialogue in your mind, how to get around whoever it is that’s just told you that you can’t do something?" - Eric Weinstein

Let's look at the difference between people with High Agency vs Low Agency. And as a picture can say a thousand words, let's start with this:

Where are you on this scale?

Of course this is not a black-and-white scale. You can have "Medium" Agency for example. But it's actually a good thing to reflect on. Because agency can be taught, you don't have to be born with it.

Try to visualise the last time you had a big challenge at work. What kind of actions did you take? What kind of language did you use? Language is a powerful thing, and a dead give-away of your agency.

For example: would you have said "Legal will never approve this" or "This is important for the company, let's find a way to get this past legal".

Or would you have said "We don't have enough people to do this" versus "Let's get as close as possible with the resources we have".

On a personal note: when looking back at my early career, I definitely did not have high agency. This was mainly due to low self-confidence (which in my mind is a good thing when starting your career: be humble). But over the years, as my confidence and skill-set grew, my agency grew with it. This is just to say: wherever you are now, things can change ??

Agency vs Talent

We've now talked about agency quite a bit. But agency has to go hand in hand with specific talents, or it's wasted. Imagine this: you are a person with High Agency. You want to get shit done. But you are fresh out of school and lack experience and a lot of skills. On the one-hand, you can see beautiful outcomes in your mind, but on the other hand you fail to deliver them because you cannot do what needs te be done.

Or vice versa: you are a super talented software engineer, but lack agency. You would love to have more of an impact, but let yourself be stopped by roadblocks in your path. Frustrating right?

I want to show you this diagram, borrowed from Shreyas Doshi:

The combination of agency and talent nets us 4 different types of people in the workplace.

The Cogs-In-The-Wheel (Low Agency, Low Talent)

These are people that are generally happy to get specific marching orders, a framework to operate within, and clear requirements for what they need to accomplish. People like this often require detailed instructions for their work, and like to work in repetitive and predictable processes. Let's be clear: we need people like this. Let's not judge anyone, this is not a bad place to be. But this is not the quadrant where you will find successful POs or PMs.

Example phrases you might hear from a cog-in-the-wheel:

"This is not how the process works"

"We've always done it this way"

"You can't just do that, you need approval from X first"

"You never said you wanted X specifically"

Frustrated Geniuses (Low Agency, High Talent)

These are people that have a ton of talent but lack agency to use their talents to their fullest potential. They will often have great ideas and thoughts, but are unable to put those into action because they lack agency. They might express a good idea, but pull back at the slightest bit of push-back or critical questions. The gap between their ideas and reality can be extremely frustrating for them. Sometimes causing them to become bitter and resentful. This group arguably has the most to gain by improving their agency.

Example phrases you might hear from a frustrated genius:

"We could do so much better"

"Person X is holding us back"

"I know our problems would be solved if we did X and Y"

Go-Getters (High Agency, Low Talent)

Go-getters are the people that get shit done, even if it's in a dumb way. This can be the super ambitious intern, that makes a ton of mistakes but nevertheless moves forward. Or it can be someone who has the right ambition, but is still learning their professional skillset.

Example phrases you might hear from a go-getter:

"Let's just do X and see what happens"

"Better ask forgiveness than permission"

"I'm not sure what the best move is, but let's try X"

Game Changers (High Agency, High Talent)

These are the people that change the world around us. They combine having high agency with great skills. They're called game-changers for a reason: they will literally change the game, if they feel the current game is not worth playing. Examples of this could be the extremely driven entrepreneur that's building a successful company, the senior manager that is turning the ship around or the software engineer that is showing everyone else how it's done. If you have game-changers in your organisation their names will pop into your mind now.

Example phrases you might hear from a game changer:

"Even if it fails this will be a great learning opportunity"

"We will try this to test our assumptions"

"This is not part of our vision, we should do X instead to move our company forward"

"I will talk to our CEO to get the budget for this"

The relevance of High Agency for POs and PMs

Having agency in your life is a good thing for most people. But for Product Owners or Product Managers it's vital. Your role is often vaguely defined, and you operate in a field of stakeholders with different views and opinions. There is often a high degree of uncertainty, and you need to solve problems daily. You're also expected to be a leader in order to get people to follow your vision.

Individuals with high agency will often thrive in these types of situations. They embrace uncertainty, value personal leadership and enjoy breaking down barriers. I've personally worked with a lot of POs and PMs throughout my career, and without fail the ones with high agency were able to get the best outcomes.

I believe a product management role is probably closest to being a senior leader in terms of the amount of agency required. All successful CEOs have high agency. They have to: if they don't break through barriers, no one else will do it for them. Their company will fail if they are not relentless in pursuing goals.

A PM/PO that wants to be successful will need some of this agency too. You will encounter pushback, tough decisions, and office politics. People will actively try to block you, and it's up to you to find a way around them.

If you want to learn more...

I hope you agree it's definitely worth studying this subject more. I've provided some bookmarks below if you want to dive a bit deeper.

Shreyas Doshi wrote a great article about High Agency. He also links agency to certain traits and personal characteristics. Definitely worth reading! I've borrowed his diagram mapping Agency and Talent. He's also published a video called Real Talk About Agency that is worth watching.

Be sure to also check out this X thread by George Mack. He lists a lot of examples of high agency behaviours.

Jens-Fabian Goetzmann wrote about High Agency being one of the top 20 product management skills.

"Lastly, the critical product management skill of?ownership?can only fully be brought to bear with High Agency: if you feel ownership for product and team but feel like you can’t do anything about it because of the hand you’ve been dealt, then that ownership isn’t really worth much."

A good book in general, but it definitely applies to agency as well: Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His 7 habits start with "being proactive" for a reason...

"Being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking win-win, seeking to understand before being understood, synergizing, and sharpening the saw—empower individuals to take control of their lives, align their actions with their values, and build meaningful relationships."

And last but not least: Mindful.org wrote about agency from the personal perspective.

"Taking control of your life means cutting through all the noise, finding emotional and physical balance, thinking more clearly, and advocating for yourself".

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