LinkedIn and 3rd parties use essential and non-essential cookies to provide, secure, analyze and improve our Services, and to show you relevant ads (including professional and job ads) on and off LinkedIn. Learn more in our Cookie Policy.

Select Accept to consent or Reject to decline non-essential cookies for this use. You can update your choices at any time in your settings.

Agree & Join LinkedIn

By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy.

Skip to main content
LinkedIn
  • Top Content
  • People
  • Learning
  • Jobs
  • Games
Join now Sign in
  1. All
  2. Engineering
  3. Product Engineering

Dealing with an overcommitting team member in Agile planning. Can you effectively manage their workload?

When Agile planning reveals an overcommitting team member, it's key to realign their workload. Here's how to tackle it:

  • Set realistic goals: Discuss capacity openly to set achievable sprint targets.

  • Foster accountability: Encourage self-assessment of workloads during retrospectives.

  • Offer support: Provide resources or redistribute tasks to prevent burnout.

How do you approach overcommitment within your team?

Product Engineering Product Engineering

Product Engineering

+ Follow
  1. All
  2. Engineering
  3. Product Engineering

Dealing with an overcommitting team member in Agile planning. Can you effectively manage their workload?

When Agile planning reveals an overcommitting team member, it's key to realign their workload. Here's how to tackle it:

  • Set realistic goals: Discuss capacity openly to set achievable sprint targets.

  • Foster accountability: Encourage self-assessment of workloads during retrospectives.

  • Offer support: Provide resources or redistribute tasks to prevent burnout.

How do you approach overcommitment within your team?

Add your perspective
Help others by sharing more (125 characters min.)
5 answers
  • Contributor profile photo
    Contributor profile photo
    Pengfei Zhang
    • Report contribution

    Before tackling an overcommitting team member in Agile, examine your reward system. Does it truly prioritize results over workload? If not, adjust it to encourage quality over quantity. Next, understand the individual's motivation. Are they seeking recognition, or are there other factors at play? Discuss their motives openly, emphasizing that consistent, high-quality delivery is more valuable than overpromising. Finally, remember that their enthusiasm might lead to unexpected innovation. Stay open to the possibility that their commitment could yield surprisingly positive results.

    Like
    4
  • Contributor profile photo
    Contributor profile photo
    Subhabrata Banerjee

    Manager Design & Engineering @ Tata Steel Nest-In| Product Innovation | B.Tech & M.Tech - Mechanical Engg. | MBA - Production & Ops @ IISWBM | 8+ years of Experience in PM, Product Engg. & NPD | Innovation

    • Report contribution

    Actually communication is the key in dealing with such a situation. Setting the targeted timelines and revisiting them with the resources availability is the major aspect. The key is to help the person discussing it openly so that road blocks are highlighted with adequate buffer timing.

    Like
  • Contributor profile photo
    Contributor profile photo
    Nana Osafo-Mensah, MBA, ITIL v3, CSM

    Deputy Chief @ NIAID | MBA in Technology Management | Thought Leader | Speaker | Digital Transformation Leader

    • Report contribution

    Managing an overcommitting member in Agile planning is vital for team productivity and well-being. Here’s a few thoughts: Open Communication: Create a transparent environment where team members can discuss workloads and challenges freely, enabling early issue identification. Regular Check-Ins: Use daily stand-ups and one-on-ones to monitor workloads, helping to identify overcommitment and make timely adjustments. Workload Assessment: Assist the team member in evaluating their tasks and prioritizing based on urgency, allowing them to focus on critical items. Set Realistic Goals: Collaborate to break larger tasks into manageable pieces, emphasizing the importance of avoiding overcommitment.

    Like
  • Contributor profile photo
    Contributor profile photo
    Rafael Antonio George Duval

    I help Ruby on Rails teams redesign billing systems by using Event Modeling

    • Report contribution

    When someone takes on too much, it can slow down the whole team. That’s why setting clear wip-limits together from the start is crucial. For example, a good starting point might be to limit everyone to two tasks at a time. If we have two testers, the WIP limit for the testing column on our Kanban board would be four. After some time, we can hold a retrospective session to check if these limits are working. By regularly reviewing our approach, we can adjust as needed and keep the work flowing.

    Like
  • Contributor profile photo
    Contributor profile photo
    John Safwat Waheeb

    Motors Plant Manager at FRESH ELECTRIC FOR HOME APPLIANCES Motors Mechanical design Diploma,PMP,PDM,MBA,FM

    • Report contribution

    To manage an overcommitting team member in Agile: 1. Set Realistic Goals: Discuss capacity openly and set achievable sprint targets. 2. Encourage Accountability: Use retrospectives for self-assessment on workloads. 3. Provide Support: Offer resources or redistribute tasks to prevent burnout. 4. Maintain a Sustainable Pace: Reinforce that it’s okay to take on less for quality results. 5. Use Capacity Planning: Factor in availability and past data to avoid overloading.

    Like
Product Engineering Product Engineering

Product Engineering

+ Follow

Rate this article

We created this article with the help of AI. What do you think of it?
It’s great It’s not so great

Thanks for your feedback

Your feedback is private. Like or react to bring the conversation to your network.

Tell us more

Report this article

More articles on Product Engineering

No more previous content
  • You're focused on product design. How do you balance practicality and creativity effectively?

  • You're tasked with assessing a groundbreaking product idea. How do you determine its feasibility?

    10 contributions

  • Your product is facing obsolescence with new tech trends. How will you keep it relevant?

    10 contributions

  • Clients demand new features constantly. How do you tackle technical debt at the same time?

    34 contributions

  • Your stakeholders are resisting essential tech updates. How can you persuade them effectively?

  • Your team is divided over design choices. How can you ensure effective collaborative decision-making?

No more next content
See all

More relevant reading

  • Agile Methodologies
    How do you handle feedback on user stories that is too early or too late?
  • Agile Methodologies
    How do you ensure that your daily stand-up is not a status report or a micromanagement tool?
  • Product Management
    How can you use cumulative flow diagrams to track agile team performance?
  • Agile Environment
    What are the benefits and challenges of doing backlog grooming before sprint planning?

Explore Other Skills

  • Programming
  • Web Development
  • Agile Methodologies
  • Machine Learning
  • Software Development
  • Data Engineering
  • Data Analytics
  • Data Science
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Cloud Computing

Are you sure you want to delete your contribution?

Are you sure you want to delete your reply?

  • LinkedIn © 2025
  • About
  • Accessibility
  • User Agreement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Copyright Policy
  • Brand Policy
  • Guest Controls
  • Community Guidelines
Like
1
5 Contributions