Mental Model #2 In Action: Capacity is a Real Constraint
Scenario 1 (good): A businessperson bought a shipping container to ship his goods from Denmark to the USA. That container has a fixed capacity vis-a-vis its dimension. The container’s cost is also fixed. The schedule of the ship is also fixed. Time (schedule), Container capacity, and its cost are fixed. However, the content (scope) of the container is variable — the businessperson can load the container with anything he wishes to load (if it is legal); however, the capacity is a real constraint. And it is okay… he cannot go beyond the capacity constraint. No overcapacity chaos at all. No problem.
Scenario 2 (bad): An executive asking the Agile Release Train (ART) leaders during PI Planning: “I can see that you are already overcapacity… why are you still taking in more loads?“
A great question and callout!
In that scenario 2, overcapacity chaos is imminent… the ART leaders view capacity as not as a real constraint at all. No wonder they are always in chaos! Overloading/overburden is a waste — it is called Muri.
Muri occurs when human or machine resources are pushed to their limits (overcapacity) and beyond… leading to many issues, including fatigue, bugs, and morale breakdowns.
Muri is the hidden drain on productivity, often disguised as hard work and high output. It reveals itself through excessive overtime, lots of bugs, and morale breakdowns. When left unaddressed, Muri transforms an efficient operation into a strained system constantly demanding attention.
The real danger of Muri is its ability to masquerade as success. After all, if everyone is performing at 110%, it must be a win, right? Wrong. This relentless overexertion leads to burnout, inefficiency, and diminished long-term performance.
To be continued …
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