Team Capacity Ramp — Hiring In Waves (Infographic)
Best for: showing how a team grows across hiring waves and what each wave unlocks Avoid when: the reader needs FTE cost modelling (use a spreadsheet) Answers: how many people arrive in each wave and what they are for
infographic sequence-cylinders-3d-simple
theme
colorPrimary #2b66c4
palette
- #2b66c4
- #2f9e44
- #f3a33c
- #d1242f
- #7048e8
- #0f9b9b
- #c16f8a
- #7c5a3d
data
title Platform Team Ramp
desc Three hiring waves across FY27
sequences
- label Wave 1 — Q1
desc 4 engineers, core platform
- label Wave 2 — Q2
desc 8 engineers, data platform
- label Wave 3 — Q3
desc 12 engineers, reliabilityData Shape
sequences where each item is a wave; the cylinder height comes from order, so keep wave sizes in desc as
text. Three to four waves is the readable range.
Key Options
| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
infographic sequence-cylinders-3d-simple |
Stacked cylinders with a sense of growth |
sequence-ascending-stairs-3d-simple |
Staircase variant — better when waves follow strict order |
sequence-roadmap-vertical-* |
Use when waves have dates and deliverables |
Pitfalls
- ❌ Cumulative vs per-wave confusion → ✅ say which one
descreports - ❌ Waves without purpose → ✅ each wave should name what it unlocks, or it reads as headcount inflation
- ❌ Using 3-D shapes for a serious finance audience → ✅ switch to a text list for budget conversations
Alternatives
| Variant | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Effort shape across a launch | launch-effort-curve.md |
| Headcount plan with dates | hiring-plan-roadmap.md |
| Capacity versus cost | capacity-cost-dual-axis.md (vega-lite) |