AIWorkDex
Operations Practice

Build a capacity-backed commitment plan

Publish a dated set of commitments that fits the visible capacity and closes every changed expectation.

Preparation
One planning review plus conversations with people affected by changed commitments.
Difficulty
Moderate
Task
Reconcile commitments and capacity
Back to the Task: Reconcile commitments and capacity

Before you start

Get what you need before you start

  • Choose the operating period and identify the person who can reprioritise accepted work.
  • List fixed obligations, recovery time, existing promises, and calendar-sharing limits.
  • Confirm who must approve delegation or changed external commitments.

Steps

Work through the method

Use the listed inputs and tools. Check the evidence when you need to verify a step.

  1. Collect every accepted commitment

    List each promised output, owner, recipient, current date, dependency, and consequence of change. Include work living outside the task list.

    Why it matters: A capacity decision fails when hidden promises remain outside the comparison.

    Input
    Task lists, project records, messages, calendar obligations, and named recipients.
    Output
    One commitment list with owners, dates, dependencies, and affected people.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Calendar

    Evidence for this step

  2. Map the available capacity

    Mark fixed obligations, focus blocks, operating duties, and recovery time. Use Time Insights only as a meeting input, then add solo work and excluded events manually.

    Why it matters: Calendar analytics omit work and cannot judge a safe or valuable workload.

    Input
    The operating calendar, Time Insights where available, and known off-calendar work.
    Output
    A dated capacity view with documented exclusions and uncertainty.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Calendar

    Evidence for this step

  3. Resolve every conflict

    Compare commitments with capacity. For each conflict, choose an authorised defer, delegate, stop, or reprioritisation decision and record its owner.

    Why it matters: Moving work without a named decision leaves the original promise active.

    Input
    The commitment list, capacity view, priority decisions, and delegation authority.
    Output
    A feasible commitment set and a decision record for every removed or changed item.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Calendar

    Evidence for this step

  4. Close changed expectations

    Tell every affected person the new owner, output, date, reason, and next checkpoint. Ask them to acknowledge material changes.

    Why it matters: A realistic internal plan still fails when the person relying on the promise expects the old date.

    Input
    The approved commitment set and the list of affected people.
    Output
    Published commitments plus acknowledged changes and open objections.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Calendar

Success checks

Check the result before you finish

  • Every active commitment fits the dated capacity view.
  • Off-calendar work and uncertainty remain visible.
  • Every conflict has an authorised decision and owner.
  • Affected people received and acknowledged material changes.

Failure modes

Watch for these problems

  • The plan uses meeting hours as total workload. Add solo work, operating duties, and recovery time.
  • Priorities change without authority. Return the conflict to the authorised owner.
  • A delegated item lacks acceptance. Keep it with the original owner until the new owner accepts.
  • The plan fits only by hiding work. Restore the missing commitment and resolve the conflict explicitly.

Tools

Choose the tools you need

Sources

Read the sources behind this practice

Check what each source supports and where the advice has limits.