You were already worried about how you’d get through everything you need to do. And someone has just asked you to do more.

Let’s say that it’s clear that this isn’t a frivolous request. This is real work that needs to be done with some urgency. And the expectation appears to be that this work will be in addition to, not instead of, your current work.

Someone’s trying to add to your already full plate.

What do you do? Do you say no, and risk being labeled as not a “team player”? Or do you say yes, and risk missing deadlines or having to sacrifice nights and weekends?

Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash

When the plate is full, adding something means removing something else.

There are exceptions to this, but they are rare. I might choose to work extra hours for a limited time, for example, to meet a tight deadline.

But otherwise, when there’s no room, there’s no piling on top. Stuff’s already piled. Something else needs to come off the plate.

Now, that might be a simple conversation. Priorities do change, after all.

“My plate’s already full with A and B. Does this new item C replace one of those?”

“Yes, drop everything until C is done.”

Or maybe they’ve forgotten that you were working on A and B. Once you’ve reminded them, they can clarify: “No, keep working on A. But once A is done, go to C instead of B.”

Maybe they don’t realize that A + B = at capacity. They imagine you’re working on A, B, and “some other stuff” and you can drop the other stuff.

You might say: “A and B together give me a full plate. If you need me to prioritize C, let’s decide how we change our approach to A and/or B to make that possible.”

Then you can present them with some options. There are several ways to intervene:

• Postpone. Can we put B on hold until C is done?
• Delegate. Maybe Alice can take on A?
• Get assistance. Could Bob work with you on B? Beware Brooks’s Law, though.
• Cut scope. Could we do just the first piece of A for this quarter?
• Adjust timelines. Can we postpone delivery of B?

Or other creative options you might think of (“let’s try pair programming…”)

I like this approach because it shifts the power dynamic. It isn’t: “The boss gives you work, you have to say yes or no.” It’s: “The boss needs something done, you help them figure out how to manage team resources.”

Maybe don’t say that part out loud. But you may be able to act like a trusted advisor to the boss, whether or not the boss sees you that way. Yet.

However, there is no world in which A and B take up all your time and you also do C without working additional hours.

And if your plate is truly full, you can’t just “work faster.” Work may expand to fill the time available, but the reverse is only true to a point.

If your plate wasn’t truly full and you could reasonably compress A and B a little to fit C, then you’d just say yes.

But a full plate doesn’t hold any more. This is the definition of full. It’s just the laws of physics. You don’t make the rules. But you can partner with your boss to think through the options.

Questions for reflection

This is the point where I think of some questions about what I’ve just written, and if I address those questions, this post is going to be twice as long (or more).

So I’ll ask you. I bet you can guess my answers.

Does full mean “100%”? And does 100% mean 8 hours of work on our top tasks every day? Are there parts of your job (meetings, conversations with coworkers, mentoring, research, answering email, giving your brain a chance to recharge) that you write off as “not work”?

Does having more on your plate than you can do make you feel… stressed? productive? like a loser? important? perpetually behind? fired up? afraid of being fired? all of the above??

Is it possible to be “caught up”? Or is the supply of work infinite? If you feel like you’re always “behind” and you’re working extra hours because of it, who benefits? (Hint: It’s not you.)

If you regularly work extra hours, are you disguising a real need for more staff or better work limits for your team? training your boss to give you too much? heading for burnout?

Does your employer actually value maximum productivity? If you are required to commute 2+ hours to sit in an open plan office, and that isn’t good for your productivity, is it possible that they value something else?

Do things that harm your wellbeing make you more productive? Like skipping lunch, working long hours, sitting all day, etc.

And with that, it’s time for me to take a break and move my body.

Drop me a note

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