Playbook
The team is burning out
More mistakes, cynicism, overtime, or people going quiet.
First 24 hours
- Talk to people one to one, and listen.
- Check real workload against capacity.
- Stop any non-essential work.
Then
- Cut work in progress.
- Protect recovery time.
- Reset the plan and tell the sponsor.
- Thank people, specifically and sincerely.
Message you can adapt
The team has worked weekends for a month, and defects are rising. I’m pausing two items for two weeks to recover quality. The date moves by four days; continuing would cost more.
Avoid
Don’t rely on heroics. A pace that burns people out isn’t a plan.
Tools for this
Last reviewed 2026-11-02 · Practitioner review pending