three-step capacity planning
For people in a hurry to get **** done
“You can do anything, but not everything.”
―David Allen
No matter the planning cadence, the one issue I always run into with business planning is finding balance between what we can do versus what we can get done.
At a high level, three things factor into planning:
What should we do?
Who is going to do it?
When will it be done?
It’s important to think about outcomes, too. This assumes there’s a list of projects and activities we can do, including why we’d do it and what we expect to gain from it.
This is about getting shit done, to paraphrase Dr. Allen.
1—Current and ongoing work
Work doesn’t stop at the end of a quarter. There has to be a reckoning of the work that’s in progress. It’s also important to not assume all this work has to continue.
I like the Stop-Start-Continue exercise.
Work that continues is the baseline to work from. New stuff gets added next.
(Don’t forget about launch dates, events, or other projects already on the calendar)
2—Pick a horizon, prioritize based on appetite
Are we planning a month? A quarter? A six-week cycle?
I like planning on a rolling 90-day basis. In reality, it's a monthly planning cycle, but always with a 90-day horizon.
Each new piece of work gets assigned an appetite. The idea of an appetite comes from 37Signals’ Shape Up method. How much time are we willing to spend on each initiative? Not "how much time should it take?"
I like appetites. It shapes how much time a project gets and how big or small the scope is — scope has to fit into the appetite, not the other way around.
"You can do anything, but not everything,” right? So make sure the total appetite for the work you choose fits into the horizon and cycle length.*
3—Regular checkpoints
Agree on the timing of regular checkpoints.
Are checkpoints weekly? Mid-cycle? Every month?
The timing doesn’t matter as long as there’s enough time to get work done and enough time to make adjustments if needed. This is a cool way for teammates to hold themselves and each other accountable. #TeamworkMakesTheDreamWork
Change is constant, so it’s ok to adjust. Cycles don’t last forever and are likely flexible enough to adjust for market changes, etc.
Agree in advance on how often checkpoints happen AND how they'll happen. Do you need a meeting? Can you use Slack? A Loom video? Notes on a Confluence page or Notion task?
*If there’s a fourth thing, it’s learning to say “No.”
If anyone feels pressure to say yes to everything and risk burning out, that’s bad news. It should be ok for anyone to say no.
Capacity planning doesn’t have to be hard. Not in smaller orgs or individual teams anyway.
When you plan for the next quarter, how do you decide what's in and what's out?
Peter
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