Limit Work to Capacity
Far too often we hear that the marketing department or the business unit, “Has to have it all by such and-such a date,” without regard for the development organization’s capacity to deliver. Not only does this show lack of respect for the people developing the product, it also slows down development considerably. We know what happens to computer systems when we exceed their capacity—it’s called thrashing. [...]
Time sometimes seems to be elastic in a development organization. People can and do work overtime, and when this happens in short bursts they can even accomplish more this way. However, sustained overtime is not sustainable. People get tired and careless at the end of a long day, and
more often that not, working long hours will slow things down rather than speed things up. Sometimes an organization tries to work so far beyond its capacity that it begins to thrash. This can happen even if there appear to be enough people, if key roles are not filled and a critical area of development
is stretched beyond its capacity to respond.
