Free KnownShift utility
FreePlan against real capacity, not theoretical availability.
Calculate realistic sprint capacity across allocation, leave, holidays, delivery overhead and planning reserve. Then assess commitment pressure, historical delivery patterns and team concentration before the sprint begins.
Free to use. No sign-in required. Your planning inputs stay in your browser.
Sprint capacity calculator
Free to use. No sign-in required. Your sprint and team capacity inputs are processed in your browser and are not saved by KnownShift.
Sprint setup
Dates, working week and any non-working days.
Sprint setup
Decimals are fine, for example 7.5.
- Calendar days
- 0
- Working days
- 0
- Non-working days
- 0
- Holiday days
- 0
Team availability
Who is on the team, how much of their time this sprint has, and what is already known to be unavailable.
Team availability
No team members added yet.
Add the people working on this sprint. Capacity is calculated per person, so each one carries their own allocation, leave and known unavailability.
Planning adjustments
How much of the available time realistically remains for delivery, and how much is deliberately held back.
Planning adjustments
1. Recurring operating overhead
The percentage of available capacity expected to remain for planned delivery after normal recurring team operating overhead.
Normal operating overhead
--
of available capacityDerived
Estimated recurring non-delivery time: ceremonies, coordination, communication, administration and recurring internal meetings. Quick mode treats these as one combined assumption rather than splitting them.
2. Contingency for the unexpected
Applied after delivery capacity is calculated. It keeps part of delivery capacity uncommitted for genuinely unforeseen work: an unexpected production issue, an urgent defect, a dependency problem or unplanned support demand.
Different bases, on purpose
The focus factor is a share of available capacity. The contingency reserve is a share of the delivery capacity that survives it. The two are sequential, so they are not meant to add up to 100%.
Commitment and history
Optional. Adds commitment pressure and guidance based on what this team has actually delivered.
Commitment and history
Optional. The story point commitment the team is considering for this sprint.
Optional. The team's typical delivered story points from recent comparable sprints. Use a broadly comparable team, sprint length and estimation approach.
Adding the capacity each sprint actually had lets KnownShift adjust the pattern for this sprint. Story points are never converted from hours.
Your sprint capacity
Enter your sprint dates, team availability and planning assumptions to calculate realistic commitment capacity. Nothing is calculated until the required inputs are present.
Capacity intelligence
More than a capacity total
A headcount multiplied by sprint hours is easy to produce and hard to defend. KnownShift Capacity Intelligence works from what the sprint actually contains.
- Real availability
- Working calendar, holidays, allocation, leave and known unavailability, per person.
- Delivery overhead
- Ceremonies and coordination, either as one focus factor or as explicit deductions.
- Contingency reserve
- Delivery capacity deliberately left uncommitted for genuinely unforeseen work.
- Role capacity mix
- Where the recommended capacity actually sits across roles.
- Capacity concentration
- Continuity exposure when a role or the team leans on one person.
- Historical delivery
- The team's own record, adjusted for the capacity this sprint has.
- Commitment pressure
- Planned effort measured against recommended capacity, not headcount.
- Scenario comparison
- What changes if someone leaves the sprint or an assumption moves.
- Professional outputs
- A management-ready brief and a working spreadsheet, both free.
Who this is for
Built for the people who have to commit the sprint
Anyone accountable for what a team says it will deliver, and for what happens when the calendar disagrees.
Project Managers
Committing a sprint they have to defend to a sponsor.
Scrum Masters
Protecting the team from a commitment the calendar cannot support.
Delivery Managers
Balancing allocation across several teams and projects.
Engineering Leads
Translating availability into what the team can realistically build.
Product Owners
Understanding why the backlog and the sprint do not match.
PMO Professionals
Standardising how capacity is calculated across teams.
Common use cases
- Sprint planning
- Leave impact analysis
- Team allocation review
- Commitment planning
- Capacity comparison
- Role capacity review
- What-if analysis
- Management review preparation
Methodology
How KnownShift calculates capacity
Every stage is visible, so you can understand where the result comes from and challenge an assumption when you need to.
- Calendar
- Allocation
- Availability
- Overhead
- Delivery
- Reserve
- Commitment
Transparent calculations. Professional judgment remains with you.
From time to commitment
Planning intelligence
Planning principles
- Story points are not directly converted from hours.
- Historical guidance uses the team's own delivery pattern.
- Availability does not equal commitment capacity.
- The focus factor and the contingency reserve use different bases and are not a 100% split.
- The utility supports professional judgment rather than replacing it.
Utility FAQ
Questions about this utility
Short, practical explanations of the assumptions behind capacity planning and how to use the results.
Most teams can start in Quick mode and only move to Detailed mode when they want to itemise ceremonies and overhead.
Capacity basics
Planning and use
Need to plan beyond sprint capacity?
KnownShift PM OS connects requirements, approved backlog, estimation, execution planning, commercial modelling and professional project artifacts into one governed delivery workflow.