Sprint Velocity & Capacity Planner
Plan a sprint from real team capacity: available hours after leave and ceremonies, a focus factor derived from historical velocity, and the story points the team can honestly commit to.
Last reviewed by the Radiatus Cloud team
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Velocity is a measurement, not a target
A team's velocity is the number of story points it has historically completed in a sprint. It is useful as a forecasting input and destructive as a goal, because points are estimated by the same team whose performance they measure, and any team asked to increase velocity will do so within a sprint or two by estimating more generously. The number goes up and nothing changes. Used as a planning input against real capacity, it does something genuinely useful.
Capacity is not headcount times sprint length
A ten day sprint with five developers is not fifty developer days. Subtract public holidays, annual leave, sprint ceremonies, on call rotation, interviewing, support duty and the meetings that exist regardless. What remains is typically sixty to seventy percent of nominal, and that ratio is the focus factor. Teams that plan against nominal capacity miss every sprint and conclude they have an estimation problem when they have an arithmetic one.
Deriving the commitment
Take the average velocity of recent sprints, adjust it by the ratio of this sprint's available capacity to the capacity of those sprints, and you have a forecast that accounts for the fact that two people are on holiday. Adding the range across recent sprints rather than only the average gives the honest picture: a team with velocities of 28, 41 and 33 does not have a velocity of 34, it has a velocity between 28 and 41, and committing to the top of that range is committing to the best case.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a focus factor?
The proportion of nominal capacity actually available for sprint work, after ceremonies, meetings, support and interruptions. Sixty to seventy percent is typical for an established team. Measuring your own rather than assuming is the point of tracking it.
Should velocity be compared between teams?
No. Story points are relative to each team’s own estimation scale, so one team’s 8 is not another’s 8. Comparing velocities across teams creates pressure to inflate estimates and destroys the metric’s usefulness for both.
How many sprints of history do I need?
Three at minimum, and the last three to six are more useful than a long average because team composition and codebase change. A single sprint tells you nothing, since the variance between sprints is usually large.
Should the team commit to the average velocity?
Commit to something at or below the average, not above. Committing to the best recent sprint is committing to the best case, which by definition happens less than half the time. The range matters more than the mean.
What about a new team with no history?
Plan the first two sprints by hours rather than points, then start measuring. Any velocity assumed before a team has worked together is a guess, and a guess presented as a plan is worse than no plan.
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How to Use
Enter team members, their availability and recent sprint velocities to get a defensible commitment.
Disclaimer: This tool is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Results are for educational and utility purposes.
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