I lead a small team that’s absolutely maxed out. I’ve been trying to make the case for more headcount but leadership keeps shrugging me off. The work keeps piling up and I know burnout is around the corner. I’ve tried reassigning priorities and streamlining where we can, but it's definitely not sustainable. Has anyone found a strategy that actually worked to convince higher-ups to invest in staffing? Besides having a project completely fall apart.

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Make it AMPLY clear the things that WILL NOT get done.

One mistake with "prioritisation" is that a lot of leaders think it's an ordering problem. It's not. It's a LIMITING problem. True prioritisation will result in telling stakeholders which items are being DEPRIORITISED. I.e. NOT DOING AT ALL. Not "we'll rush the first stuff to try and squeeze this in after". I've found showing that is very effective.

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I would do this while also setting a clear boundary that nobody is working unpaid overtime in the team, because you've pushed them enough. To push them more will burn them out and then NOTHING will get done.

discuss hiring a few temps/contractors as a short term solution. Keep asking about a timeframe to consider more headcount in check-in with your manager. Know it’s exhausting but might have to make a strategic proposal on your plan for more headcount outlining the current state of things. Also, maybe go through everyones job descriptions and highlight extra roles or responsibilities your team has since added

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Yeah this helped me in a similar situation. It's a tough way to do it, but yeah get clear on headcount required and headcount available in man hours. As shitty a model as that is sometimes thats the only way people can see it.

And if they see every week that you're showing a deficit and that the team isn't keeping up then that'll seriously bring their attention.

Maybe even an honest count of the ACTUAL hours your team is spending. I'm not usually an advocate for time tracking because it's a poor way to measure outcomes, but it's a fantastic way to demonstrate overload and risk of burnout.

u will start slipping on deadlines whether u burn ppl out or not, up to management to do something about it or allow more deadlines to slip

Why are you asking for methods besides a project falling apart? That's the MOST effective way, and the only way they'll truly understand the limits without burning out the team.

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