TBM 377: Time Allocation ≠ Capacity Allocation
4 days ago
- #productivity
- #time-management
- #capacity-allocation
- The author is attending the Enterprise Tech Leadership Summit in Las Vegas (September 23–25, 2025) and Industry in Cleveland (September 9–10).
- Capacity allocation is often misunderstood, with companies mistaking time allocation for capacity allocation, leading to wasted resources.
- Capacity allocation is not just about tallying hours but involves directing a team's potential energy, shaped by context and investments.
- Effective capacity in manufacturing considers factors like maintenance, supply chain delays, and staffing, not just theoretical maximum output.
- Investing in a product team means funding the system (design, upkeep, improvements) rather than just buying hours.
- Current capacity is influenced by past investments like stable codebases, good tooling, and healthy team dynamics.
- Time allocation focuses on where hours are spent, while capacity allocation considers the team's true ability to deliver outcomes.
- Honest discussions about capacity require distinguishing between time and capacity allocation and considering the whole system.
- Common categories of time allocation include dedicated projects, maintenance, firefighting, and customer interaction, among others.
- Real-world examples show discrepancies between theoretical time allocation and actual effective capacity due to inefficiencies.
- The solution is to decouple time allocation from capacity allocation and use different terms to foster honest discussions about productivity.