> You need Kubernetes, and you need to be able to monitor your environment, but you don’t have the resources to staff up.

Then you don't necessarily need it. You can also use cloud native solutions which is meant to address many scenarios (of course not every) like this one where there's lots to do and not enough people, offload the thinking to a provider. If you're running thin, then you should not be subjecting yourself to a system like k8s, it requires going in with eyes wide open and a lot of awareness.