Cross-Project Prioritization & Capacity Management

Our practice has more opportunities than we can resource and we're saying no to work. Create a project prioritization framework.

Include: (1) Priority criteria – how do we compare projects? Strategic fit, profit, importance, growth? (2) Capacity planning – what's total available capacity? What projects can we staff? (3) Decision framework – when do we pursue, defer, or decline? (4) Resource leveling – how do we optimize when constrained? (5) Transparent decisions – how do we explain prioritization to clients? (6) Flexibility – when strategic opportunity arises, can we reprioritize?

Include project evaluation matrix and capacity planning tool. Make decisions transparent.

Copied to clipboard.

Why this works

Explicit prioritization prevents chaos. Frees teams to focus.

Risks & review

Saying no is hard. Use objective criteria to depoliticize.