Find out whether your team has the capacity to meet current and upcoming demand. Model team availability, workload commitments and pipeline to see exactly where you are over or under capacity.
The most common capacity planning failure is hiring too late. By the time a team is clearly overwhelmed, the hiring process (averaging 6-12 weeks from approval to start date) means 2-3 more months of overload. Good capacity planning identifies the hire trigger point — the demand level at which you should initiate hiring — before the team reaches that point.
Initiate hiring when sustained utilisation reaches 80–85% of usable capacity — not when it reaches 100%. Reason: hiring takes 6–12 weeks. Onboarding takes 4–12 weeks more. During this period, demand continues to grow. If you wait until 100% capacity to start hiring, the team may be at 120–140% by the time the new hire is productive. Build in a 15–20% early warning threshold.
Usable capacity = Team size × Available hours per week × Target utilisation %. Available hours: total contracted hours minus planned absences (holiday, training). Target utilisation: 70-85% for knowledge work. Example: 8 people × 35 hrs × 80% = 224 hours/week usable capacity. Compare against actual workload demand to find surplus or deficit. If demand exceeds usable capacity, you need more headcount, reduced scope, or a prioritisation decision.