# Build a capacity plan comparing my workload to available hours

Calculates the hours your work needs versus the hours you or your team actually have, and shows where to cut or add help.

- Topic: Productivity & Planning
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/build-a-capacity-plan-comparing-my-workload-to-available-hours

## Prompt

```text
Build a capacity plan for my workload.

**Whose capacity:** [just me / my team - list people and their working hours]
**Planning period:** [e.g. "next quarter, by month"]
**Work to fit in:** [PASTE PROJECTS, RECURRING WORK, AND EXPECTED REQUESTS - with estimated hours if known]
**Time already committed:** [meetings, admin, support duty, training, PTO, holidays]
**Known peaks:** [e.g. "year-end close in December", "product launch in week 6"]

Steps:
1. Calculate available hours: contracted hours minus PTO, holidays, meetings, and admin. Treat [e.g. 70%] of what remains as realistic project capacity unless I say otherwise.
2. Estimate demand hours for each item; mark estimates and give ranges for uncertain work.
3. Compare demand with capacity for each period and person.
4. Identify overloaded and underloaded periods and people.

Return:
1. Capacity table: | Period | Person | Available hours | Demand hours | Gap | Utilization % |
2. The main crunch points and what drives them.
3. Options to close each gap, with trade-offs: reschedule, cut scope, reassign, temporary help, overtime (last resort).
4. A recommended plan, and what I need to ask for or say no to.
5. An Excel-ready layout so I can update the numbers each month.

Show your math. Don't invent hours or headcount; ask if key numbers are missing. Treat planned utilization above 85% as a risk, not a target.
```

## What to fill in

- just me / my team - list people and their working hours
- e.g. "next quarter, by month"
- meetings, admin, support duty, training, PTO, holidays
- e.g. "year-end close in December", "product launch in week 6"
- e.g. 70%

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.