All Things Product with Teresa and Petra Capacity Planning
Apr 8, 2025
Discover why traditional capacity planning often fails teams focused on outcomes. Learn how to self-align without overcommitting and effectively balance your workload with the rocks, pebbles, and sand analogy. Explore reframing planning around opportunities rather than fixed features. Embrace the idea of separate capacity buckets for problem, solution, and implementation discovery to minimize risks. Finally, hear practical tips on aligning teams across discovery phases to enhance collaboration and drive success.
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Capacity Planning Assumes False Certainty
- Capacity planning assumes teams know exactly what to build and how long it will take.
- Teresa Torres argues this ignores discovery, unknown unknowns, and inevitable change.
Using Capacity Planning To Avoid Overcommitment
- Petra Wille describes using capacity planning internally to avoid overcommitment when executives quiz teams unexpectedly.
- Her team used Yesterday's Weather and a rocks/pebbles/sand metaphor to align realistic quarterly work.
Use Capacity Planning For Team Alignment
- Do capacity planning at the team level as a loose alignment tool, not a fixed commitment.
- Focus on balancing big opportunities (rocks) and smaller work (pebbles/sand) to stay on track to outcomes.
