The secret to getting a system into a state of flow is balancing capacity and demand.
Two levers: Increase Capacity and Constrain Demand. There’s a misconception that increasing capacity means increasing headcount.
2 min read
Originally posted on LinkedIn · 23 reactions · 0 comments · View original →
The secret to getting a system into a state of flow is balancing capacity and demand.
Two levers: Increase Capacity and Constrain Demand.
There’s a misconception that increasing capacity means increasing headcount. But that’s not the only way.
👇 Here are 10 different ways to increase the capacity of digital teams:
1️⃣ Shift capacity from Failure Demand to Value Demand
2️⃣ Invest continuously 20% of capacity into enablers and tech debt
3️⃣ Reduce Waste
- Discarded Work: Work canceled before reaching the commitment point.
- Abandoned Work: Unfinished work returned to the backlog with an intent to revisit.
- Aborted Work: Work canceled after commitment, wasting resources.
- Stale Work: WIP that hasn’t progressed for a long time.
4️⃣ Manage Dependencies
- Visualise Dependencies: Use reservation boards with categories like Standard, Reserved, and Guaranteed.
- Avoid Blockers: Proactively manage dependencies to prevent work from getting blocked.
5️⃣ Control WIP and Reduce Context Switching
6️⃣ Manage queues and waiting steps to increase flow efficiency
7️⃣ Increase Team Liquidity—the ability to match work and workers.
8️⃣ Automate, Automate, Automate
9️⃣ Leverage AI tools to the full extent
🔟 Use Innersource Practices—best practices from large-scale open-source projects for proprietary software
What else do you think can increase capacity for digital teams besides increasing headcount? Share your thoughts!