# Case: splitting the spring peak > Read the peak forecast, close the gap without taking the hard tickets yourself, and write the split plan with delegation briefs for four coordinators, two seasonal hires and an AI draft assistant. - Course: [From Specialist to Manager: Your First Year Leading a Team](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager.md) - Module: Delegation and the design of work - Lesson 12/32, ~40 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/spring-peak-split-case ## The peak on one page **Alex Tutor:** End of March. The first month of the peak held: Dmytro and Sofiia are up to speed, and the AI draft pilot is three weeks old. April and May will be harder. **Iryna:** Before April, one page: who does what until the end of May. Four coordinators, Dmytro and Sofiia, the AI drafts, and you. And what you need from me. **Sofia:** I have the forecast for the whole peak. Where do I start? **Alex Tutor:** Before the numbers: where does such a plan start? > **Exercise:** Iryna wants a one-page split of the spring peak. What is the best first step? **Alex Tutor:** With the gap: compare expected tickets with the six coordinators' capacity, week by week. Capacity grows while the new two ramp up, then stays at 395. **Dataset (CSV):** [Spring-peak forecast, 1 March – 30 May 2027](https://productovi.com/datasets/from-specialist-to-manager/spring-peak-split-case/klasna-spring-peak-forecast.csv) Thirteen weeks. Routine and hard tickets are part of the expected total. Capacity: Olha 75, Taras 95, Maryna 60, Bohdan 55 tickets a week, plus Dmytro and Sofiia ramping up from 25 to 55 each. - `week_start`: Monday of the week - `expected_tickets`: Tickets expected that week - `expected_routine`: Of those: schedule changes and payment questions, where an AI draft helps - `expected_hard`: Of those: hard tickets (refund disputes, lost lessons, invoices) - `coordinator_capacity`: Tickets the six coordinators can handle that week **Sofia:** Up to 12 April capacity covers it. From 19 April the expected tickets pass 395 and keep climbing until the week of 17 May. > **Exercise:** Using the dataset: add up the gap (expected tickets minus coordinator capacity) over every week where expected tickets exceed capacity. What is the **total shortfall**? ## The old reflex **Alex Tutor:** 235 tickets over six weeks, 65 of them in the week of 17 May alone. Now, how are you planning to close it? **Sofia:** Honestly? I'd take the hard ones in May myself. I'm still the fastest on them. **Olha:** We saw how that went in January. I'd rather not watch it again in May. **Alex Tutor:** That's January again. The week of 17 May has 33 hard tickets. At about an hour each, how much of your 40-hour week is that? > **Exercise:** The week of 17 May has 33 hard tickets. If the lead takes all of them at about an hour each, what **share of a 40-hour week** goes to them? In %, two decimals. ## What closes the gap **Alex Tutor:** 82.50% of your week, with nothing left for the team, and Olha, Bohdan and Maryna lose the work they're best at. Over the thirteen weeks it would be 325 hours. **Alex Tutor:** Two assumptions for the rest. Your 8 own-ticket hours cover about 17 tickets a week. And from the pilot so far: checking an AI draft takes about half the time of writing a routine reply. **Alex Tutor:** Work out what the drafts free in the worst week. > **Exercise:** The week of 17 May has **223** routine tickets. Checking an AI draft takes about half the time of writing a routine reply, so each routine ticket with a draft frees half a ticket of capacity, **rounded down**. How many tickets of capacity do drafts free that week? **Sofia:** So in the week of 17 May: 223 routine tickets with drafts free about 111 tickets of capacity. The gap is 65. My 17 alone wouldn't cover it. **Alex Tutor:** Right. The drafts close the gap, if people really use them and a person checks every reply before it goes. That's why the assistant's brief matters as much as anyone's. **Olha:** Bohdan has started writing the list of things a draft must never say. He's the strictest reviewer we have. > **Exercise:** Which parts of the plan help close the 65-ticket gap in the week of 17 May **without** breaking what the team has built? Select all that apply. ## Who owns what **Alex Tutor:** Now the hard tickets. They go to people who already own those types, at the level the data supports: refunds to Olha within policy, video failures and Teams invoices to Bohdan. **Alex Tutor:** Maryna keeps her refund stretch at level 2, Olha approving. Taras owns schedule changes at level 3. Dmytro and Sofiia move to level 2 on routine types, with drafts. **Sofia:** And me? **Alex Tutor:** Queue time at peak hours on routine tickets, hand-ups outside policy with Iryna, the weekly look at drafts, and the one-to-ones. Especially in May. > **Exercise:** Match each part of the peak work with the owner and level the plan gives it. **Alex Tutor:** And what goes in your own column? > **Exercise:** Which of these belong in the lead's own part of the peak plan? Select all that apply. ## Iryna's question **Iryna:** One question before you write it. Wouldn't it be simpler if you just took the hard tickets yourself in May? You're the best at them. **Sofia:** Three months ago I would have said yes. **Alex Tutor:** Answer her with the numbers, and with what she'd lose: a lead with no time for the team, and four people who stop growing in the busiest weeks of the year. **Alex Tutor:** Before you answer her, check the idea. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** in the busiest weeks of the year, the simplest sound plan is for the lead to take the hard tickets and leave people's growth until after the peak. **Olha:** And tell her I'd like to keep the refunds. I've only just got them back. > **Exercise:** Iryna asks: **"Wouldn't it be simpler if you took the hard tickets yourself in May? You're the best at them."** Answer her in 2–4 sentences, using the numbers. ## Your plan **Alex Tutor:** Now the page. Iryna reads it before April begins, and the team will read it too. **Sofia:** The gap and how it closes, who owns what at which level, briefs for the key hand-offs, what I do myself, and what Iryna approves. **Alex Tutor:** And one line per person on how the peak helps them grow, after asking them. A plan that only moves tickets will hold for two weeks. **Iryna:** One page. If it doesn't fit, it isn't clear yet. > **Exercise:** Write your one-page plan for splitting the spring peak, April to May. > **Key ideas** > > - Start from the gap: 5,140 tickets expected over 13 weeks; capacity of 395 a week from mid-March; six short weeks from 19 April, 235 tickets in all, 65 in the week of 17 May. > - The promoted-star reflex returns under pressure: taking the 33 hard tickets of the peak week would cost 33 hours, 82.50% of the lead's week. > - Close the gap where the work allows: AI drafts on routine tickets (223 that week, about 111 tickets of capacity freed if checking a draft takes half the time), always with a person checking and sending. The lead's own queue time, about 17 tickets, is not enough alone. > - Hard tickets go to the people who own those types, at the level the data supports; stretches continue with support; new hires climb from level 1 to 2. > - Each key hand-off gets a brief (the AI assistant's too), each person a line on how they grow, and Iryna a list of what she approves. **Alex Tutor:** That's March. In April the peak climbs, and the next question is what keeps people going when the work gets heavy. - Previous lesson: [Work people grow in](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/work-people-grow-in.md) - Next lesson: [Can't, won't, or doesn't believe it pays off](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/diagnose-motivation.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.