[BadBadJellyBean]

If everything is high prio nothing is and if the backlog is always full it's not a problem if it fills up even more. If I am at the assembly line, I am doing my darnedest not to make it run faster. One can only sprint so long.

[smugglerFlynn]

It is not a problem if you are an assembly line robot making motions. People, however, are not robots. They get held accountable by their higher-ups for delivering on these (often nonsensical) priorities, they risk getting fired when expectations are not met, and high uncertainty of faulty planning systems like that is extremely stressful in itself.

[BadBadJellyBean]

Expectations will be raised until they can't be met anymore. There is always a ceiling.

It is on every single worker to make sure that they don't please the system beyond what is reasonable. Often the problem is people who overwork themselves to please and set the bar over the reasonable amount of work. Still when the majority does not raise their output to an unhealthy amount that must be accepted as a ceiling.

[smugglerFlynn]

I think you are mixing cause and effect in real life dynamics.

In real organizations people tend to raise their performance to the [often unreasonable] level of expectations, even when situation stops being sustainable long-term for the whole group.

Suggesting that people should simply avoid overperforming assumes a level of control they don’t really have.

What do you think will actually happen at Coinbase now? Is it more likely that people will start saying hard “no,” or that they would stretch to meet the new expectations despite the personal cost?

[BadBadJellyBean]

I can tell you how I would react. They can't fire everyone and I am not going to be the one who is going to fill the gaps that other people's decisions created. If everyone acted the same there would be no problem. Things would just go slower. Expecting the same output from fewer people is stupid. My employment is not by their grace but for their benefit.