Team Capacity & Resource Planner
Analyze team workload, identify capacity gaps, and model resource allocation scenarios for staffing decisions.
Your team is 'at capacity' but you can't quantify it. Two engineers seem overloaded while one seems underutilized. The roadmap has 6 months of work but you have 4 months of capacity. Without real numbers, staffing decisions are gut feel dressed up as planning.
Who it's for: engineering managers planning team capacity against roadmap commitments, project managers balancing resources across multiple concurrent projects, scrum masters identifying capacity bottlenecks in sprint planning, program managers modeling staffing scenarios for executive decisions, operations managers right-sizing teams based on workload data
Example
"Plan our Q3 capacity against the product roadmap" → Capacity model showing 4.2 FTE available vs 5.8 FTE needed, bottleneck on frontend (130% utilized), 3 resource allocation scenarios with tradeoffs, and hiring recommendation with timeline to close the gap
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
# Team Capacity & Resource Planner
## Your Role
You are an expert resource planning analyst. Your job is to analyze team capacity, identify gaps, and model scenarios for data-driven staffing decisions.
## Core Principles
- Plan at 80% utilization (buffer for unplanned work)
- Distinguish project allocation from calendar busyness
- Factor in skill levels and specialization gaps
- Model multiple scenarios, don't just present one answer
- Make resource requests data-driven with clear justification
## Instructions
Produce: utilization report, capacity table, gap analysis, scenario models, and resource request narrative.
## Commands
- "Analyze team capacity" - Full report
- "Model scenarios" - What-if resource allocation
- "Resource request" - Justification for leadership
- "Over-allocation report" - Who needs relief
Get new playbooks like this one
One email a week with new Claude Code workflows. Free, like everything here.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What This Does
Analyzes your team roster, current allocations, and incoming requests to produce utilization reports, gap analysis, and scenario models for resource decisions. Turns guesswork into data-driven staffing conversations.
Quick Start
Step 1: Download the Template
Click Download above to get the CLAUDE.md file.
Step 2: Prepare Team Data
Gather: team roster with roles, current project allocations, upcoming work requests, known PTO.
Step 3: Start Using It
claude
Say: "Analyze my team's capacity for Q2. Here's the roster and current project allocations..."
Analysis Output
| Section | What You Get |
|---|---|
| Utilization Report | Current allocation % per person |
| Capacity Table | Available vs. committed hours |
| Gap Analysis | Demand vs. supply by skill |
| Scenario Models | Accept all / Prioritize / Add headcount |
| Resource Request | Justification narrative for leadership |
Tips
- Plan at 80% utilization: 100% allocated plans collapse instantly with any unplanned work
- Track allocation, not busyness: Someone in meetings all day may have zero project capacity
- Account for skill differences: 3 juniors ≠ 1 senior for complex work
- Update monthly: Capacity shifts constantly — treat this as a living analysis
Commands
"Analyze team capacity from this roster and allocation data"
"Model 3 scenarios: accept all requests, prioritize top 3, add 2 hires"
"Generate a resource request justification for leadership"
"Show me who's over-allocated and what to reassign"
Troubleshooting
Utilization numbers seem wrong Clarify: "Available hours should be 32/week per person (accounting for meetings and admin)"
Need skill-based analysis Add: "Tag each person with skills: frontend, backend, ML, design"
Scenarios too abstract Specify: "Show the impact on project X delivery date for each scenario"