The Tactics

Recently we collected some feedback regarding the current operational model, and one of the themes emerging from the feedback is limited capacity. There is no surprise that a company always operates with limited resource and time and need to balance different priority well and produce fruitful business results. Although the senior management needs to create an environment that allows us to align well, as part of the management team there are a few tactics that can help to manage team capacity better. 

Strategic

Strategically, we need to have prioritized initiatives that align with company strategies and business unit strategies. 

Also, we need to try to shorter the life span of the detailed planning and instead provide vision and OKR for the business outcome we want the initiative to achieve, and leave the detailed planning to the capability team. 

And we need to look at our funding and finance to make sure the funding is allocated to all the work that is related to the business outcome, considering the development process is more of a design process rather than factory activities, appropriate funding model and management practices can help to make sure all the required work are funded and visible. 

Tactics

But achieving those strategic goals is hard, and sometimes in our circle of concerns. As a manager, we are still able to have some tactics way to resolve this and help the team operate within the constraints. 

First, make the work visible. A lot of people are wanting to help but didn't realize that they need to make their work visible, so some people are busy context switching and helping out and gradually became key person risk. By making all the work visible at the team level, the team are easy categorizes the work, and raises them to the product owner to understand where the work coming from, and if we have the correct funding for them. 

Second, plan together. If all the stakeholder goes to the team directly without a plan, then the team will be busy dealing with different work request all the time. By having the right stakeholders planning together on a quarterly basis, we will have good visibility of what's coming next and make the plan better. 

Third, having a single backlog. By having a single backlog, we make sure we can prioritize all the work for the team, and fully understand the priorities across multiple work requests. 

Last, but not least, limited WIP. By limiting how much different work requests a team can take on, we're able to finish faster, rather than have all the work in progress and finish none of them. 

Conclusion 

By executing those tactics, it's easy to help the team manage their capacity, and able to find time for our people to continuously learn, take breaks from work, and be more efficient.