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Why Agile Teams Overcommit and How to Fix It

Most agile teams don’t miss deadlines because they’re lazy.

They miss them because they overcommit—and don’t know it until it’s too late.

Sprint after sprint, the same pattern shows up:

☑️More stories than capacity

☑️Work carried over

☑️ Frustrated teams and fuzzy retros

The root cause isn’t always bad estimation.

It’s often cultural.

Pressure to say “yes”, No room for pushback, Rewarding velocity over value

Here’s how better teams are fixing it:

☑️Start each sprint with a realistic, shared capacity plan

☑️Build in buffers (10–15%)—and protect them

☑️Set one clear sprint goal everyone can align to

☑️Create space for honest pushback before committing

☑️Track capacity % and unplanned work in real-time

Link to the full article: https://www.rallybetter.com/blog/why-agile-teams-overcommit-and-how-to-fix-it/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=rally_social

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