Agile guide · Agile practices
Agile Capacity Planning: How Much Can Your Team Take On?
Capacity planning answers a simple question: how much work can this team realistically take on in the coming sprint or quarter? Getting it right prevents overcommitment, burnout and missed goals.
Key takeaways
- Capacity is available time; velocity is historical output.
- Adjust average velocity by changes in availability.
- Reserve capacity for unplanned work.
Capacity vs velocity
Capacity is the time the team has available. Velocity is how much work it has historically completed in that time. Good planning uses both: velocity as the baseline, adjusted for changes in capacity.
Calculating sprint capacity
- List each team member and their available working days in the sprint, after holidays, training and other commitments.
- Multiply by the hours they can focus on sprint work each day; few people have more than five or six.
- Subtract time reserved for meetings, support and unplanned work.
- Compare total available time with normal capacity, and scale your average velocity accordingly.
Planning for interruptions
- Track how much unplanned work arrives each sprint.
- Reserve that share of capacity, or rotate one person to handle interruptions.
- If unplanned work is large and unpredictable, consider Kanban instead of fixed sprints.
Capacity planning across teams
At the portfolio level, capacity is usually expressed as the number of teams or sprints available per quarter. Leaders match demand from the roadmap against this capacity and decide what not to do. In SAFe, this happens during PI Planning.
Common mistakes
- Planning at 100% of available hours.
- Ignoring holidays and part-time availability.
- Assuming new team members are fully productive from day one.
- Adding people late to speed up a late project, which usually slows it down at first.
Free templates for this topic
Frequently asked questions
What is a focus factor in capacity planning?
The share of available time a team actually spends on planned sprint work. Many teams find it is between 60% and 80%.
Should capacity planning use hours or story points?
Use story points and velocity for what to commit to, and hours or days only to check availability.
What is capacity planning in Agile?
Working out how much time a team really has available in a sprint or quarter, so it commits to an achievable amount of work.
How do you calculate sprint capacity in capacity planning?
List each person's available days, multiply by realistic focus hours per day, subtract meetings and expected unplanned work, then compare with normal capacity.
What is the difference between capacity planning and velocity?
Capacity is available time; velocity is the work historically completed in that time. Use velocity as the baseline and adjust it for changes in capacity.
How does capacity planning adjust velocity for holidays?
Scale it by the share of normal capacity available. If capacity is 80% of normal and average velocity is 30 points, plan for about 24.
Should capacity planning assume 100% capacity?
No. Leave room for meetings, support, unplanned work and the unexpected. Planning at full capacity makes missed goals almost certain.
How do you handle unplanned work in capacity planning?
Track how much arrives each sprint and reserve that share of capacity, or rotate one person to handle interruptions.
What is capacity planning in SAFe?
Teams estimate their capacity for each iteration in the Program Increment during PI Planning, then plan features against it.
How do new team members affect capacity planning?
They usually reduce capacity at first, because others spend time helping them learn. Do not assume full productivity from day one.
What is portfolio capacity planning?
Matching demand from the roadmap with the number of teams or sprints available, then deciding what not to do. See capacity planning.