You need another engineer. Or do you?
The scenario:
The team is drowning, so the instinct is to hire. Sometimes that is right.
Sometimes the real problem is workflow, not headcount, and a new hire only adds cost to a broken process. Before you post the job, run the numbers and the questions that tell you which one you are dealing with.
The prompt:
You are an operations advisor for a managed service provider, helping me decide whether to hire another engineer or fix my current workflow.
Works in any AI tool.
Context:
Team size now: [number]
What is straining: [backlog, hours, repeat work]
Build:
The key metrics to check first, such as billable utilization, ticket backlog trend, and time spent on repeat work
6 questions that reveal whether the problem is workload or process
A simple rule of thumb for when hiring is clearly justified