Let’s cut to the chase—telling leadership you’re planning your sprint capacity at 50% might sound like you’re committing career suicide. In organizations that have grown accustomed to squeezing every last drop of productivity out of their teams, suggesting less than 100% can be met with blank stares, raised eyebrows, or outright pushback. But here’s the thing: If you’re constantly planning at full capacity, your team is heading for burnout, fast.

So, how do you navigate sprint capacity without becoming a corporate casualty? Let’s talk strategy, negotiation, and yes—some Machiavellian maneuvers.

The Problem with Planning for 100% Capacity

Planning sprints at 100% capacity looks great on paper. It gives leadership the feeling that the team is fully utilized and all resources are being maximized. But it’s a lie. Life happens—requirements change, bugs pop up, emergencies arise, and people get sick or just have bad days. When you plan for 100%, you’re ignoring the inevitable, and that’s setting your team up to fail.

Here’s why 100% doesn’t work:

• Unforeseen Issues: There are always blockers and unplanned tasks that weren’t accounted for.
• No Room for Improvement: Continuous improvement requires time to reflect, adapt, and experiment—none of which can happen when you’re booked to the brim.
• Stress and Burnout: Pushing for 100% leaves no margin for error. Teams can’t sustain that level of intensity indefinitely, and eventually, morale will tank, leading to increased mistakes, more bugs, and, ironically, lower productivity.

Why 50% Capacity is the Sweet Spot

I’m not advocating for literal 50% productivity—it’s more about planning for breathing room. This leaves space for the unexpected and gives your team the bandwidth to handle unplanned work, technical debt, and other surprise demands without constantly running at redline. Think of it as a buffer, and it’s essential for sustainable delivery.

But how do you sell this to leadership, especially when they’re trained to expect more for less?

Navigating Leadership Expectations

Now, convincing leadership to adopt this strategy is where things get tricky. Dropping from 100% to 50% capacity won’t be an easy conversation, but here are some strategies to help navigate that conversation.

1. Speak Their Language: Data and Metrics

Leaders care about results—plain and simple. They want to know how their teams are performing, and they don’t want vague promises that “it’ll work out better.” If you want to convince them to give this a try, you need to bring data to the table.

• Actionable Tip: Gather historical data showing how planning at full capacity has led to missed deadlines, bottlenecks, or technical debt. Present examples where unplanned work derailed sprint goals. Use this data to explain how planning for 50% will actually increase throughput over time by allowing for smoother operations, fewer mistakes, and higher-quality delivery.

2. Frame it as Risk Management

Leaders are often risk-averse, and that’s something you can use to your advantage. Planning at 100% capacity is risky because it assumes that nothing will go wrong—and something always goes wrong. Frame the 50% buffer as a risk mitigation strategy.

• Actionable Tip: Position the 50% capacity planning as a way to manage risk more effectively. Explain that it allows the team to handle unforeseen challenges without derailing the sprint, which ultimately means less risk of failure.

3. Machiavellian Move: Offer What They Want, Then Pull Back

Here’s where a bit of Machiavellian strategy can come into play. Sometimes you have to give people what they think they want in order to get what you need. Start by agreeing to plan at a higher capacity, but deliberately under-commit in terms of the actual workload. When the inevitable surprises hit, you’ll look like a hero for delivering on your promises despite the chaos. Once you’ve built that trust, you can start easing into lower planned capacities under the guise of maintaining that success.

• Actionable Tip: You can “overestimate” the amount of work in a sprint but deliver fewer, higher-priority items well. Over time, highlight how this approach leads to higher-quality output. Eventually, leadership will be more open to recalibrating sprint capacity based on results, not projections.

4. Build Trust First, Propose Change Later

If you’re new to your role or your team is still earning credibility, pushing for 50% capacity planning might feel like a stretch. In these cases, start small. Plan at 70-80% capacity and let the team’s output prove the value of leaving breathing room. As you gain trust and show consistent delivery, you can introduce the concept of planning for 50%.

• Actionable Tip: Start by negotiating a smaller buffer (20-30%) and scale up as leadership sees the value. Let them see the success of a lower-capacity sprint before going all-in on 50%.

Machiavellian Tips for the Savvy Scrum Master

We all know it’s not just about what you propose but how you propose it. Here are a few strategic maneuvers to get leadership on board with reducing sprint capacity without setting off alarms.

1. Preempt Their Objections

When you propose a 50% buffer, expect pushback. Leaders will ask why they should pay for a team that’s not working “to full capacity.” Preempt their concerns by addressing them head-on in your pitch. You can explain how this buffer isn’t wasted time—it’s strategic space for addressing issues before they become bottlenecks.

• Machiavellian Twist: Position this buffer as being for their benefit. “We want to make sure we have space to deal with urgent leadership requests or last-minute changes.” Frame it as making you more adaptable to leadership’s needs rather than protecting the team.

2. Leverage Influencers

In most organizations, there’s always that one or two decision-makers who hold sway over everyone else. If you can get one of these influencers on your side, they can help champion the idea to the rest of the leadership team.

• Machiavellian Twist: Find the influencer who’s been burned by over-promising or missed deadlines in the past. Get them on board with the idea that planning at 50% capacity will ensure those headaches won’t happen again. Once they’re sold, they can become your internal advocate.

3. Control the Narrative

Once you start reducing capacity, control the narrative around why things are going smoother. When leadership sees improvements, subtly point out that it’s due to more realistic planning, not less work. Frame the change as a leadership win—they allowed the team to work more effectively by approving this approach.

• Machiavellian Twist: Even if capacity drops, always tie positive outcomes back to leadership decisions. “Because of the space you gave us, we were able to deliver X better than before.” Keep them feeling in control.

Final Thoughts: The Long Game of Capacity Planning

Transitioning to a 50% capacity planning model isn’t something you’ll achieve overnight, especially in organizations that are still entrenched in traditional thinking. But by using data, framing the conversation in terms of risk, and employing a few strategic moves, you can gradually make the shift. As Scrum Masters, we aren’t just protecting our teams from burnout—we’re positioning them for long-term success. And sometimes, a little bit of Machiavellian cunning is exactly what you need to make that happen.

So go ahead, play the game smart, and show leadership that less is actually more. The team you save from burnout might just be your own.