Learn English – out to do something — meaning

One sense of rotate is "to replace (a person, troops, etc.) by another or others, usually according to a schedule or plan." (dictionary.com)

The idea here is that troops need substantial amounts of time off after a certain amount of active duty, but there aren't any to replace the ones in question, so the original troops will need to stay on duty longer than expected.

Direct commands/imperatives in English can be considered "harsh" unless the people involved know each other very well or at least have some familiarity.

Sometimes situations call for direct commands even in polite situations, but in dealing with a team politeness is an obvious way to demonstrate respect in a team environment.

There's many, many ways to "soften" them or make them more polite, and expressing a command as a preference is one way to do that.

Don't use abbreviations in method names.

I prefer not to use abbreviations in method names.

However, the second sentence is you directly expressing a preference, but not really making it clear that anything beside you should be affected. So it sounds like you're trying to "drop a hint" and might come off as a bit too "weak."

To make this a bit stronger, but still polite, you have to express it in such a way that it affects everyone:

I prefer we not use abbreviations in method names.

I'd rather not see abbreviations in method names (assuming everyone sees the same method names)

Assuming one can speak for "we" is definitely a "boss" thing and stronger than the second sentence. The second sentence sounds less "boss"-like.

So overall you have the right idea.