As a part of [[An Elegant Puzzle]] [[Falling Behind]] | Treading Water | [[Repaying Debt]] | [[Innovating]] --- # Overview > A team is treading water if they're able to get their critical work done, but are not able to start paying down technical debt or begin major new projects. Morale is a bit higher than when [[Falling Behind]], but people are still working hard, and your users may seem happier because they've learned that asking for help won't go anywhere. > > Page 35 # System Fix > When the team is treading water, the system fix is to consolidate the team's efforts to finish more things, and to reduce concurrent work until they're able to begin repaying debt (e.g., limit work in progress). Tactically, the focus here is on helping people transition from a personal view of productivity to a team view. > > Page 37