Template

Capacity planning template

Before committing to new work: count who is really here, what is already promised, and how much is left — then decide what fits and what does not.

45 minutesFor Engineering managers, team leads and product managersAgenda room
Change the agenda first

The agenda, with a time for each part

  1. Who is actually here8 min
    • Who is on holiday, on call, in training or moving teams this period?
  2. What is already promised10 min
    • What did we commit to last time that is not finished?
  3. Room for the unplanned7 min
    • How much of last period went on bugs, support and surprises?
  4. New work that fits12 min
    • Which of the requests fit in what is left?
  5. What does not fit, and who is told8 min
    • Who needs to hear no, and from whom?

How the notes read afterwards

A made-up example, so you can see the shape. In a real call each line carries the words that were said and who said them.

Here. 7 engineers, 4 sprints: 140 days. Minus holidays (12) and on-call (20): 108.

Already promised. Search improvements, about 30 days left.

Unplanned. Last quarter took 22% — hold back 24 days.

Fits. Bank transfers (35 days). Does not fit. The reporting redesign; Lena tells the sales director on Friday.

Running it well

Ways to change it

QuarterlyNinety minutes, with each team's numbers prepared beforehand and the trade-offs between teams decided in the room.
One team, every sprintFifteen minutes at the start of sprint planning, using the same three numbers.

When to skip it. If nobody is asking for more than the team can do, a quick count at sprint planning is enough.

Questions

What is capacity planning for a team?

Working out how much time a team really has in a period, after holidays, on-call duty, existing commitments and unplanned work, so it commits only to what fits.

How do you calculate team capacity?

Count the working days each person is available, subtract time already committed and a share kept for unplanned work, and what remains is what new work can use.

How much time should be kept for unplanned work?

Whatever share it took last period; many teams find it is between a tenth and a quarter of their time.

What happens in the room

Everybody joins from the link, with no account. The agenda sits beside the call and each item fills in with what was said about it, under the name of the person who said it.

More templates

Root cause analysisAfter something went wrong: lay out exactly what happened, ask why until you reach causes you can change, and leave with fixes that each have an owner.Risk reviewA regular look at the list of things that could go wrong: which have grown, which are new, and whether the steps meant to stop them are actually happening.Story mapping workshopLay out everything a user does, step by step, across a wall; put the detailed stories under each step; then draw a line for the smallest first release that still works end to end.Technical design reviewBefore building something large, the engineer who wrote the design walks others through it so problems are found on paper, not in production.Security reviewBefore something new goes live: what data it touches, how it could be attacked or misused, what protects it today, and what must be fixed before launch.On-call handoverThe fifteen minutes when one engineer hands the pager to the next: what broke, what is still open, and what to watch this week.Bug triageGo through the new bugs, decide how serious and how urgent each one is, give each an owner — and close the old ones nobody will ever fix.Product discovery reviewThe team shows what it learned from customers this cycle — interviews, tests, numbers — and decides which ideas are worth building, which need more evidence, and which to drop.

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