Sprint capacity calculator
Sprint capacity is people multiplied by working days multiplied by a focus factor, converted into whatever unit you plan in. The focus factor is the whole argument: nobody does eight hours of sprint work in an eight-hour day.
Sprint capacity, step by step
Start with available person-days, not headcount: subtract holidays, public holidays, known absences and any day a part-timer is not working. Then apply the focus factor — the share of a working day that goes on committed sprint work rather than support, interviews, review, incidents and meetings. For most teams it lands between 0.6 and 0.8, and a team claiming 1.0 is a team whose sprints always slip.
Converting to story points needs your own velocity from the last three to five sprints, not a theoretical rate. Points are a measure of this team’s throughput and mean nothing transferred to another team.
Where this number misleads you
Capacity is not a commitment. Filling the sprint to exactly the calculated number leaves no room for the thing that always happens, which is why mature teams plan to around 80% of capacity and still finish. Treating the figure as a target to fill is how a planning tool becomes a stick.
Questions people ask
How do I calculate sprint capacity?
Multiply available person-days (headcount × sprint days, minus holidays and known absences) by a focus factor between 0.6 and 0.8, then convert to your planning unit using your own recent velocity. Plan to about 80% of the result to leave room for interruptions.
What is a realistic focus factor?
Between 0.6 and 0.8 for most teams — meaning 60 to 80% of a working day reaches committed sprint work. Teams with on-call duty, heavy support load or many meetings sit at the lower end. Measure your own by comparing completed work against raw available days over several sprints.
Should capacity be in story points or days?
Days for the calculation, because absences and part-time working are in days. Convert to points at the end only if your team estimates in points, using your own velocity. Points are specific to one team and one period, so never compare them between teams or carry them across a reorganisation.
When one number is not the job
This page works out one number. PikoPM’s Capacity planner plans a real team — holidays, part-timers, three countries — instead of one number at a time.
Open Capacity planner — it needs an account, and the Free plan covers it.