June 12, 2026 Paging Charity? How do I get my leaders to stop running teams Into the ground? Capacity is one of the hardest problems because it sits at the knotty, gnarled-up intersection of so many other hard problems. Credit: Alexandra Francis Hi Charity, I'm a senior staff engineer, and I’m wondering what advice you might have for a person in my role in a large company to affect priorities and the speed at which work is "expected" to be executed. It feels like the speed at which the teams are being pushed to deliver was not really sustainable three years ago and feels even more unsustainable this year. I'm obviously not in the rooms where these decisions are made, even though I am lucky to have a good relationship with my manager (role: Director of Engineering) and their manager (role: VP of Engineering). I'm wondering how can I push my leaders to think in a way that doesn't require teams to be operating at 100% capacity all the time or convince them that building in slack doesn't mean "you get to slack off", it means "you get space to build resilient systems and handle the unexpected." Signed, Senior Leader Advocating Capacity, Keeping Engineers Resilient (S.L.A.C.K.E.R.) Dear SLACKER, OY. Way to put your finger right on the tightest, knottiest pressure point in software engineering. What’s next, an elbow? A jackhammer? That is not a complaint, btw. I like your style — straight for the jugular. Why mess around? LFG. Capacity is one of the hardest problems because it sits at the knotty, gnarled-up intersection of so many other hard problems: time estimates and roadmaps, motivation and burnout, competitive pressures and tool gaps, and the small matter of “what even is productivity, and can we measure it?” But first : Hi everyone! This is my first advice column on Stack Overflow, and I am so excited to be here. We plan to make this a limited run, every other Friday for the next three months. Do you have a question f
Back to Home
Paging Charity? How do I get my leaders to stop running teams Into the ground?
B
Blizine Admin
·2 min read·0 views
B
Blizine Admin
View Profile Staff Writer
Related Articles
We've all pressed Ctrl+C a million times. Linux solved this in the 1980s — the rest of us didn't.
Jun 17, 2026·2 min read
CBC Bit Flipping Explained: Why Encryption Alone Doesn't Guarantee Integrity
Jun 17, 2026·2 min read
Building Better Product Experiences Through Quiet Improvements
Jun 17, 2026·1 min read