Software factory capacity

Capacity is conditional

A factory can complete different amounts of work depending on the work arriving and the conditions around it. A team handling a security incident has less capacity for planned feature work even when headcount is unchanged. A specialist approval queue can constrain the whole system while other people appear available.

Capacity is therefore a range or distribution under a stated context. Define the work unit, the completion boundary, the period, and the service level expected. Keep changes in work mix, staffing, dependencies, release policy, and tooling visible when comparing periods.

Find the constraint

Completed throughput shows what the system delivered. Work in progress, queue time, cycle time, and blocked time help explain what limited that result. If demand arrives faster than a stage can process it, the queue grows. Adding more work to an already constrained stage can reduce flow by increasing context switching and coordination.

Do not use capacity as an individual quota. Much of a team's capacity is shaped by shared systems and policies. A useful capacity conversation identifies a constraint and a possible change, such as spreading review knowledge, reducing batch size, or removing an avoidable handoff.

How Weave can help

Weave can make the development workload and its flow visible through code output, pull request timelines, review demand, quality, and rework. This helps a team see where capacity is being consumed. Planning and operational systems are still needed for work that never enters the repository workflow.