To think capacity issues like this are a workplace red flag

[slepet]

I work in a job where most work is project based. Projects last a couple of weeks or months and ramp up in intensity before completion.
More often or not, the week around completion will
be hellish, think 70 hour weeks. Fire drills. Very stressful.

I had a big completion due sometime in January or February. In early December I got told I was being added to another project as well but this would be over by New Years.

Project got delayed and then suddenly both projects were completing over the same two weeks. I flagged this multiple times to my mid level managers and was told I must prioritise their project for XYZ reason.

I managed to juggle both projects successfully until near completion weeks when I had two conflicting deadlines. Flagged capacity issues again and then without discussion mid level manager told me I was no longer on their project.

At my review, I received scathing feedback from manager who removed me from project, about being unreliable and how I need to flag capacity issues. I did but they just didn’t care.

We have a capacity manager in the team to oversee what projects people are on. They were aware but didn’t really care. How do I navigate this scenario? It’s happened before.

Have you got emails of you flagging it?

We communicate using a messaging app which disappears after 24 hrs

I'd respond by evidencing that I had raised the capacity issue. Always email going forward.

I’d screenshot your messages going forward.

Take the emails of you flagging it - attach to one email and send to both mid level managers and capacity manager - pointing out that you were flagging the issues and that you disagree with the feedback.

Ask them if they will acknowledge this and review their feedback of you.

If they dont acknowledge it or continue to be arses then send it higher up the chain to their boss. Its unacceptable- they are obviously in the shit looking for a scapegoat.

If it wasnt documented in email - you haven't a leg to stand on and you will have to get on with it and basically learn from this mistake to get everything in writing. Even if they speak to you on the phone, send a mail to say "thanks for confirming XYZ on the phone today"

I'm afraid I agree - without evidence, the most senior voice is the one that will be listened to. Going forward, keep a permanent record of every capacity conversation, so that next time it happens you can show that you flagged it and were ignored.

Yeah this was common in my job.

didn’t matter how many times you flagged it to managers you’d still get shat on.

no advice sorry

So no audit trail of the comms? That's very unprofessional. No proof that conversations were had? The business is using this lack of evidence to push an untrue narrative.

I'd be looking for a better company

And your compliance team were cool with this ?

message and follow up with an email.
And screenshots (there will be some way of your IT recovering messages i guess?)

And if you have a capacity manager, and they don't reply? (Give them 24 hours) escalate to their boss and CC project managers.

I get the mayhem of sprints, but nobody should be scheduled for simultaneous sprints, that's not how it works.

yeah it’s a red flag but it’s very common in lots of workplaces. Sadly, the only thing you can is arse-protecting via flagging resource issues and collecting evidence. Which is exactly what you don’t want to do, add extra work and tasks, when you are stretched and overworked.

I work in a role that has similar pressures and timescales. And thanks to a new structure, I am really vulnerable as I can’t forecast my own workload combined with a weak mid-layer who don’t seem to be on top of anticipating, managing or challenging expectations with projects (although I might not be party to the whole picture).

I’m an internal resource working on projects but report in through a central, separate line. What works for me is building strong relationships with projects and keeping them in the loop about capacity clashes/tasks missed or delayed. Recently, I’ve had to concentrate on those project team members with influence and soft power (not always the leader/top dog) who can then express this back to central team and often advocate for me/complain they are not getting the support they require. I encourage them to do this directly and reframe as project risk. I also evidence capacity flags/prioritisation requests to central line either as emails (or would screenshot message apps in your case) and log hours worked.

Other colleagues prioritise the central line but I quite like doing a good job!

Also, if your work cares about personal objectives through a review cycle, you can build this in to working practice. I’m expecting to be challenged on my progress on “internal efficiencies” in this years cycle. I’ve built in monthly blocks of time to progress these but they have been overtaken by project pressures and efforts to spend my leave and leiu. Crucially, I have evidence to support this from the central line. Combined with every single “thanks” email saved in a folder and some nice-looking evaluation decks prepared for projects, it’s going to be quite difficult to score me down (even against other high performing colleagues).

And when I’m in the weeds; co-pilot is helpful for emails either checking nothing has been missed or drafting something simple, I always have an internal status update at busy times and I check in with trusted colleagues to vent.

visability is often more effective than quiet competence. I don’t love it, but it’s the corporate way!