When guaranteeing autonomy of participants in the solution, it may seem that we hand over control to other parties. The reverse is true: by granting autonomy it becomes easier for everybody to perform well (including you!). You gain self-control, increased overall performance and satisfaction.
User-Centered Innovation employs a pragmatic definition of autonomy.
In some situations, the required solution does not allow for (much) autonomy. Rather, for severe time-criticality or other reasons, a set of strict protocols is enforced that guarantee the solution to work in a certain manner. And this may be useful and good – although such solutions are expensive when their context changes and the protocols need to be revised. Whenever this is encountered, it usually makes sense to isolate the part of the solution that must have such strict control, and guarantee autonomy in the other parts of the solution.
If your current solution is rather strict, then keep in mind that nowadays your participants have many alternatives to obtain their desired added value: your solution is not unique. And even if you have a monopoly, and therefore a unique solution, then you should prepare for a challenger for your status quo. Whenever your participants have a choice of solutions, they will choose those solutions that deliver their added value and grant them most autonomy. More autonomy supports the participants to use the solution to achieve their (larger) purpose.
The key is to engineer solutions that guarantee autonomy. Such systems retain flexibility: (more) autonomy makes for easier adaptation to changes in behaviour and context.