Declining

I'm not sure yet. Let me check and get back to you.

Buy time when you cannot answer yet.

I can't take that on this week, but I can help next Monday.

Decline and offer another time.

I don't have the bandwidth this sprint, but I can pick it up next sprint.

Decline extra work now and offer a later time.

I'd need more time to give you a proper estimate.

Avoid giving a rushed estimate.

I think that's out of scope for this release.

Say a request belongs outside the current release.

I'm not the right person for that, but Hoa knows the billing system well.

Redirect a question to a better person.

Can we push this to the next sprint?

Ask to postpone work.

I can't commit to that date without checking with the team.

Avoid promising a date before checking.

I'm happy to help, but I'll need someone to cover my code reviews.

Accept with a condition.

Unfortunately, it's not a quick fix. It needs a schema change.

Explain why a request is bigger than it looks.

I'd rather not promise a date until we finish the investigation.

Refuse to commit too early.

If I take this on, the API work will slip. Which one is more important?

Ask your manager to choose the priority.