Project Background
NotionFlow, a B2B workflow SaaS company, is preparing for a high-visibility quarter with three overlapping commitments: a customer-requested SSO upgrade for a $1.2M renewal, a mobile dashboard launch promised at the annual user conference, and a security remediation program tied to an external audit. You are the program manager coordinating a 10-person cross-functional team across engineering, design, QA, and security.
All three initiatives have deadlines within the next 8 weeks, but the team only has capacity to fully deliver two on time without changing scope, sequencing, or staffing assumptions. Leadership wants a clear prioritization framework, a delivery plan, and a recommendation on what to defer, phase, or descale.
Key Stakeholders
- VP of Product wants the mobile dashboard ready for the conference demo in 6 weeks.
- Head of Sales needs the SSO upgrade live in 5 weeks to secure the renewal.
- CISO requires all critical audit findings closed in 8 weeks to avoid a qualified audit result.
- Engineering Manager is concerned about team overload and has already flagged limited backend capacity.
Constraints
- Team: 4 backend engineers, 2 frontend engineers, 1 designer, 1 QA lead, 1 security engineer, 1 PM/program manager
- Budget: $60,000 remaining; no new full-time headcount approved
- Timeline: SSO in 5 weeks, conference demo in 6 weeks, audit remediation in 8 weeks
- Backend team has only 24 engineer-weeks of available capacity over the period; estimated demand is 34 engineer-weeks
- One senior backend engineer is unavailable for 2 of the next 6 weeks
Complications
- The largest customer says a partial SSO release may be acceptable, but only if SCIM provisioning is included.
- The conference date cannot move, but leadership may accept a limited mobile beta instead of a full launch.
- Two audit findings depend on a third-party identity vendor response that has been inconsistent.
Your Task
- Propose a prioritization approach for the three deadlines and justify the trade-offs.
- Build an 8-week execution plan with sequencing, owners, and dependency management.
- Recommend what to fully deliver, phase, descale, or defer.
- Identify the top risks, escalation points, and stakeholder communication plan.
- Define success metrics for each workstream and for the overall quarter.
