Capacity Plan
Stress-test whether your roadmap fits real headcount and utilization before you commit to quarterly goals or hiring.
Overview
Capacity-plan is an agent skill most often used in Validate (also Build, Operate) that analyzes team workload and forecasts utilization so solo builders can decide if upcoming projects fit available people.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill capacity-planWhat is this skill?
- Workload analysis and utilization forecasting from team size, current load, and next-quarter pipeline
- Three planning dimensions: People (allocation, hires, contractors), Budget (variance, forecast vs actual), Time (depende
- Role-based utilization targets table (e.g. IC/specialist 75–80%, manager 60–70%) with room for reactive work
- /capacity-plan command flow with explicit inputs: roles, tracker upload, constraints, and upcoming work
- CONNECTORS.md hook for project-tracker and tool integrations when placeholders appear
- Utilization targets table defines IC/specialist at 75–80% and manager at 60–70%
Adoption & trust: 1.4k installs on skills.sh; 19.6k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You are heading into a planning cycle with too many initiatives and no clear picture of whether your small team can actually deliver without burning out.
Who is it for?
Indie founders or leads doing quarterly planning with a known team roster, current projects, and a concrete next-quarter backlog.
Skip if: Builders with no team or workload inputs to share, or situations where capacity is already signed off and you only need sprint task breakdown.
When should I use this skill?
Heading into quarterly planning, the team feels overallocated and you need the numbers, deciding whether to hire or deprioritize, or stress-testing whether upcoming projects fit the people you have.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get a structured capacity view across people, budget, and time—including utilization targets—so you can hire, deprioritize, or resequence work with numbers instead of hope.
- Capacity and utilization forecast aligned to people, budget, and time dimensions
- Allocation recommendations (hire, deprioritize, or adjust timelines)
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Canonical shelf is Validate because the skill is invoked before committing to scope—proving upcoming work fits people, budget, and time. Scope subphase covers tradeoffs like hire vs deprioritize and whether projects fit the team you actually have.
Where it fits
Compare next-quarter feature list against IC utilization targets before saying yes to enterprise deals.
Rebalance in-flight projects when two contractors roll off mid-quarter.
Diagnose chronic slip by checking whether managers are above the 60–70% utilization band with no buffer.
How it compares
Use for headcount-and-utilization planning instead of ad-hoc spreadsheet guesses or generic chat prioritization without role-level targets.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is capacity-plan for?
Solo builders and small-team leads who own roadmap and staffing tradeoffs and need workload math before committing to quarterly deliverables.
When should I use capacity-plan?
Use it when entering quarterly planning, when the team feels overallocated, when deciding hire vs deprioritize, or when stress-testing whether new projects fit current roles—in Validate scope conversations, Build PM planning, or Operate iteration when rework is driven by overload
Is capacity-plan safe to install?
Treat it like any third-party agent skill: review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page and limit connected tracker or finance tools to least privilege before uploading workload data.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Capacity Plan
# /capacity-plan > If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../../CONNECTORS.md). Analyze team capacity and plan resource allocation. ## Usage ``` /capacity-plan $ARGUMENTS ``` ## What I Need From You - **Team size and roles**: Who do you have? - **Current workload**: What are they working on? (Upload from project tracker or describe) - **Upcoming work**: What's coming next quarter? - **Constraints**: Budget, hiring timeline, skill requirements ## Planning Dimensions ### People - Available headcount and skills - Current allocation and utilization - Planned hires and timeline - Contractor and vendor capacity ### Budget - Operating budget by category - Project-specific budgets - Variance tracking - Forecast vs. actual ### Time - Project timelines and dependencies - Critical path analysis - Buffer and contingency planning - Deadline management ## Utilization Targets | Role Type | Target Utilization | Notes | |-----------|-------------------|-------| | IC / Specialist | 75-80% | Leave room for reactive work and growth | | Manager | 60-70% | Management overhead, meetings, 1:1s | | On-call / Support | 50-60% | Interrupt-driven work is unpredictable | ## Common Pitfalls - Planning to 100% utilization (no buffer for surprises) - Ignoring meeting load and context-switching costs - Not accounting for vacation, holidays, and sick time - Treating all hours as equal (creative work ≠ admin work) ## Output ```markdown ## Capacity Plan: [Team/Project] **Period:** [Date range] | **Team Size:** [X] ### Current Utilization | Person/Role | Capacity | Allocated | Available | Utilization | |-------------|----------|-----------|-----------|-------------| | [Name/Role] | [hrs/wk] | [hrs/wk] | [hrs/wk] | [X]% | ### Capacity Summary - **Total capacity**: [X] hours/week - **Currently allocated**: [X] hours/week ([X]%) - **Available**: [X] hours/week ([X]%) - **Overallocated**: [X people above 100%] ### Upcoming Demand | Project/Initiative | Start | End | Resources Needed | Gap | |--------------------|-------|-----|-----------------|-----| | [Project] | [Date] | [Date] | [X FTEs] | [Covered/Gap] | ### Bottlenecks - [Skill or role that's oversubscribed] - [Time period with a crunch] ### Recommendations 1. [Hire / Contract / Reprioritize / Delay] 2. [Specific action] ### Scenarios | Scenario | Outcome | |----------|---------| | Do nothing | [What happens] | | Hire [X] | [What changes] | | Deprioritize [Y] | [What frees up] | ``` ## If Connectors Available If **~~project tracker** is connected: - Pull current workload and ticket assignments automatically - Show upcoming sprint or quarter commitments per person If **~~calendar** is connected: - Factor in PTO, holidays, and recurring meeting load - Calculate actual available hours per person ## Tips 1. **Include all work** — BAU, projects, support, meetings. People aren't 100% available for project work. 2. **Plan for buffer** — Target 80% utilization. 100% means no room for surprises. 3. **Update regularly** — Capacity plans go stale fast. Review monthly.