👥 Team Capacity Planning

Matching available capacity to project demands.

Capacity calculation

Available capacity = Team size × Working days × Focus factor

• Focus factor: typically 60-80% (accounts for meetings, support, admin)
• Working days: subtract holidays, PTO, company events

Capacity planning steps

1. Inventory resources — Who is available? Part-time or full-time?
2. Map commitments — Existing projects, support rotations, on-call
3. Calculate available capacity — Hours/points available per sprint
4. Match to demand — Compare backlog needs vs capacity
5. Adjust — Reprioritize, defer, or hire if gap is too large

Common capacity drains

Drain	Typical impact	Mitigation
Meetings	20-30% of time	Audit and reduce
Context switching	15-25% loss	Batch similar work
Support / on-call	10-20% of team	Rotate, shield dev time
Technical debt	Variable	Allocate 15-20% per sprint
Unplanned work	10-20%	Buffer in sprint capacity

Signs of overcommitment

• Consistently missing sprint goals
• Rising burnout or turnover
• Quality dropping (more bugs, less testing)
• Everything is "urgent"
• No time for learning or improvement

Best practices

• Plan at 70-80% capacity, never 100%
• Track velocity trends, not just single sprints
• Protect maker time (blocks of uninterrupted focus)
• Make trade-offs visible to stakeholders