Capacity planning estimates how much work a team can complete in a period after accounting for holidays, vacations, on-call duties, buffer days, and meeting time. It compares available capacity with estimated work so commitments remain realistic. section 11.3.3
Use capacity planning to:
- Size proposed work before committing to it. section 11.3.3
- Expose overcommitment instead of hiding capacity constraints. section 11.3.3
- Balance workload and respond to signs of burnout. section 3.2.8
- Negotiate which lower-priority work should move to a later period. section 11.3.3
A quarter with too much work
A team sizes twelve features as S, M, or L, then calculates quarterly capacity after accounting for holidays, vacations, buffer days, on-call responsibilities, and meetings. When the proposed workload exceeds capacity by 106 days, the team negotiates to defer less-critical features to the next quarter. section 11.3.3
Figure 11.4 A sample capacity-planning sheet
Inspect a sample capacity-planning sheet showing how available engineering time is estimated. section 11.3.3
