Is Your ‘100% Utilisation’ Actually a 0% Progress Issue?

Your Slack/Teams is a “Coordination Tax” nightmare.

Everyone is “busy,” yet those board-level milestones feel further away than they did at the start of the quarter.

This is the Utilisation Trap

Running a team at 100% (or close to) capacity doesn’t maximize ROI - it guarantees a queue.

Think of it like a motorway:

• 60% Utilisation: Cars move at the speed limit. High throughput.
• 100% Utilisation: Nobody moves. You don’t have efficiency; you have a traffic jam.

“If your team is ‘firefighting’ today, it’s not a talent problem. It’s a system one.”

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The Solution: Less Push, More Flow

If you find yourself constantly asking for more “hustle,” you are likely treating the symptom rather than the cause. You don’t need more “push”; you need WIP (Work In Progress) Limits.

The Reality Check

• ❌ 100% Utilisation = Burnout, bottlenecks, and stalled milestones.
• ✅ Optimised Flow = Buffer for creativity, faster shipping, and actual ROI.

The Verdict

• ❌ Stop the sprint.
• ✅ Fix the flow.

Stop measuring how busy people are, and start measuring how quickly value gets out the door.

Don’t guess on capacity limits. Download the calculators here.