What is on the team workload planner
- Available hours
- Contracted hours this week minus time off and the time that goes to meetings, email and admin. That is the real capacity for project work.
- Hours by project
- Estimated hours each person will spend on up to five projects. Excel adds them up.
- Free and load %
- Hours left (negative when over) and assigned hours as a percentage of available. Around 80 to 90% is a healthy plan; over 100% is a warning.
- Task owner and status
- One named owner for every task, with dates, priority and the next step or blocker.
- Backup and readiness
- Who covers each key duty, whether they can actually do it, where the instructions are and what access they need.
Planning workload by capacity
Start each week (or each sprint) with real capacity, not the 40 hours on the contract. Subtract time off, then a realistic amount for meetings, email and admin, usually five to ten hours a week for most office roles. That's what is available for project work. Then estimate the hours each person will spend on each project this week. Excel shows the total, the hours free or over, and the load percentage. Plan for about 80 to 90% so there's room for the unexpected; anyone over 100% needs work moved. In the sample, Priya is at 106% while Ana has room, so the webinar moves to Ana.
One owner per task
The task board works because every task has one owner, even if several people help, plus a due date and a status everyone understands. Review it in a short weekly meeting, focusing on anything late, waiting or blocked, and on what each person will finish this week. Add the estimated hours and compare the total with the team's capacity; if the board holds three hundred hours of work and the team has a hundred and fifty, something has to be dropped or delayed, and it is better to decide that now. Use the priority matrix to decide what goes first.
Every key duty needs a backup
Small teams often depend on one person for critical jobs: payroll, paying suppliers, the carrier pickups, the inventory system. When that person is sick or leaves, the job stops. List each person's key duties, name a backup, and be honest about whether the backup could actually do it today. Then fix the gaps: write the instructions (see the SOP checklist), set up the access the backup needs in advance, and have them do the task once with the expert watching. Check the plan before vacations and record skill levels on the skills matrix.
Editing the files
The Excel capacity planner works out available hours, totals, free hours and load percentage for each person and the team. Rename P1 to P5 with your projects. The task board and cover plan are fillable PDFs and editable in Word and Excel. Copy the capacity sheet each week to see the trend.
Questions
How do I plan a team's workload?
Work out each person's available hours after time off and meetings, estimate hours per project or task, compare the two, and move work from anyone over capacity.
What is a good utilization rate?
For planned project work, around 80 to 90% of available hours leaves room for interruptions. Consistently over 100% leads to missed deadlines and burnout.
How do I calculate capacity?
Contracted hours minus time off minus meetings and admin time. The planner does the subtraction for each person.
What is a cover plan?
A list of each person's key duties with a named backup, the backup's readiness, instructions and the access they need.
Does the planner calculate automatically?
Yes. The Excel version calculates available hours, assigned hours, free hours, load percentage and team totals.
Comments and questions
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