The Weekly Capacity Estimator calculates how many hours remain for planned delivery after unavoidable time demands are removed from the work week. Enter contracted or available hours, fixed operational work, meetings, administration, interruption allowance, and a reserve percentage. The calculator reports gross remaining time, protected reserve, usable capacity, and the utilization implied by a proposed workload.
This tool supports personal planning, team allocation, sprint preparation, and workload conversations. It is deliberately more conservative than subtracting only meetings from a nominal 40-hour week, because routine work and uncertainty also consume capacity. A negative usable result indicates that fixed demands and reserve exceed the available week. Capacity is a planning estimate, not a guarantee of output, and should be calibrated with observed delivery data.
1. Enter the real work week
Use the hours genuinely available, accounting for part-time schedules or leave.
2. Subtract fixed work
Include operational duties that must occur regardless of planned delivery.
3. Add meetings and administration
Use expected calendar and support-work totals.
4. Allow for interruptions
Estimate recurring unplanned requests or context switching.
5. Protect a reserve and test workload
Choose a buffer percentage, then compare planned delivery work with usable capacity.
The main result is the time available for planned delivery after fixed demands and reserve.
When fixed demands exceed available time, the negative result is a structural capacity deficit.
Given: 40 available hours, 8 fixed, 10 meetings, 4 administration, 3 interruptions, 10% reserve, and 14 planned delivery hours.
Calculation: Gross remaining = 40−8−10−4−3 = 15 hours. Reserve = 15×10% = 1.5 hours. Usable capacity = 13.5 hours. Planned utilization = 14÷13.5×100 = 103.7%.
Result: Usable capacity is 13.5 hours, so the 14-hour delivery plan exceeds it by 0.5 hour.
The reserve protects the flexible portion of the week rather than reducing commitments that cannot be avoided.
Include recurring duties such as support coverage, reporting, maintenance, or mandatory reviews.
Yes. Recent observed data is usually better than a one-time guess.
Planned delivery work exceeds estimated usable capacity and may require scope, timing, or commitment changes.
Availability is the full time window. Capacity is the smaller portion that remains usable for planned delivery after other demands.