A man in an apron looks at three coffee cups on a table. The first is under-full, the second is overflowing, and the third is under-full. Text labels are below each cup.

Can you do me a little graphic to illustrate this? Showing a nearly full glass (labelled workload = capacity), overflowing glass (workload > capacity), and under-full glass (workload < capacity)? -- Think of workload and capacity like your morning cup of coffee. Every person is like a cup. They have a certain capacity. Sometimes they're a 20 oz Venti and can handle a lot. Other times, they're a 12 oz Tall and can’t take as much — think public holidays, training, or PTO. Operations managers — or resource managers, or project managers — are the baristas. They’re the ones filling that cup. And workload is what they’re pouring in. But they need to pour carefully. Pour in more coffee than the cup can hold, and there’s overspill — someone’s getting burned (or more accurately, burnt out). Pour in less than the cup can hold and the maths doesn't math. You've paid for a full cup but it's half empty. And as any pessimist will tell you, that's not a good thing. See more