Busy and at capacity are different problems

Businesses that hire because everyone is busy often find the new person absorbed within a quarter, with the same pressure remaining.

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“We are at capacity” and “everyone is busy” describe different conditions, respond to different interventions, and are routinely confused. The confusion is expensive, because the usual response to both is hiring, and hiring only fixes one of them. The distinction A business at capacity cannot accept more work without something being delivered late or badly. The constraint is real: the available hours are genuinely committed to work that produces value. A busy business has fully occupied people. That is not the same claim. Occupation includes rework, coordination, task-switching, waiting, and…

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