In many organisations authority cannot always reside exactly where work occurs.
Compliance constraints, legal accountability or operational structure sometimes require authority to exist elsewhere.
In these cases organisations introduce Authority Proxies.
A proxy acts with delegated authority on behalf of the true decision owner.
The proxy resolves decisions within defined boundaries while the ultimate authority remains elsewhere.
This pattern allows decisions to terminate locally without permanently relocating formal authority.
When proxies are poorly defined confusion emerges quickly.
When they are clearly bounded they allow organisations to maintain both governance and velocity.