---
name: Capacity Planning
description: Plan resources ahead of demand.
---
# Capacity Planning

Capacity planning ensures you have the resources (people, infrastructure, materials) to meet forecast demand — without over-provisioning and paying for idle capacity.

## Method
- **Forecast demand.** From historical patterns, pipeline, seasonality. Range, not point.
- **Map demand to capacity drivers.** How many of X does each unit of demand consume? Translate demand into capacity needs.
- **Identify the constraint.** The resource that limits output. Plan against it; everything else has slack.
- **Lead times matter.** Hiring takes months; cloud capacity takes minutes. Plan the slow-moving resources early.

## Trade-off
Under-provision → missed demand, customer pain. Over-provision → wasted cost. The art is the buffer — enough to absorb forecast error, not so much it's waste.