Not overcommitting the team.
WHAT THE COMMON FAILURE IS
Accepting everything, and delivering late on all of it.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
What the team can actually do in a period.
HOW
From what it has done historically, not from optimism.
WHAT TO ACCOUNT FOR
Leave Support and interruptions Meetings Maintenance work
WHY INTERRUPTIONS MATTER
They consume more capacity than anyone estimates.
WHAT PROPORTION OF TIME IS ACTUALLY AVAILABLE FOR PLANNED WORK
Substantially less than the working week.
WHAT TO DO WITH NEW REQUESTS
Show what would have to move.
WHY
It makes the trade-off visible rather than absorbing it.
WHAT TO AVOID
Saying yes to everything and hoping Adding work without removing any
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
People working late routinely Quality falling Errors increasing People going quiet
WHAT THOSE INDICATE
Sustained overload.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Reduce the load, rather than encouraging resilience.
WHY
Resilience is not a substitute for capacity.
WHAT TO PROTECT
Time that is not allocated.
WHY
Fully allocated teams cannot absorb anything unexpected, and something is always unexpected.
WHAT TO MEASURE
Whether commitments are met.
WHAT PERSISTENT MISSES INDICATE
Overcommitment, not underperformance.
