Decline when the gap is capacity rather than capability
When: A team asks for help, but they already know how to do the thing. What they lack is time.
The action: Say no. Send the conversation back to whoever sets the team's priorities.
Forces: Saying yes feels helpful and builds goodwill. It also turns the enabling team into extra hands, hides a prioritisation problem, and makes the next exit harder. Declining risks the relationship in the short term.
Signals: The team's priorities change. The enabling team's queue holds capability requests, and few requests for hands.
When not to: A skill gap is hiding behind "no time". Teams often say they lack time when the work is unfamiliar. Test which it is before declining.
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