Basic capacity management:
A simple case study

Capacity management is one of those things that are crucially important especially for rapidly growing start ups - and yet, too often there is nobody to think about this from a process perspective. Programme management can make a key contribution in identifying the impact here, but addressing (or even better, preventing) bottlenecks needs clear strategic thinking and planning.

Case study

Team X, which fulfils a key supporting function for other teams, is getting too many ad hoc requests. The backlog is growing and there is currently no clear way for the team to prioritise these requests across all their activities. Consequently, requests are being filled on a “first come first served” basis, or maybe who happens to bump into whom in the corridor (granted, this was more frequent in the before times!). In some cases, programme management has identified that this situation has caused key tasks for programmes in the portfolio to be delayed, holding up overall progress of that program!

For drug discovery programmes, for example, the overarching priority is likely progressing existing programmes in the portfolio (above e.g. innovation or developing new tools and capability). In this case, the following priorities might apply:

Priority 1. The request is tied to a programme in the portfolio (vs. a side quest, regardless how interesting!)

Priority 2. The request is for a later-stage programme with an upcoming programme milestone / review and portfolio-level decision (e.g. proceed to next phase, discontinue, adjust strategy)

Priority 3. The request is tied to a new programme

Related questions to think about/help prioritisation and develop capacity going forward could be:

• If most ad hoc requests come from one particular team, consider whether to add more capacity to support tasks related to what that team is doing

• Are the requests truly ad hoc or is there a pattern, i.e. are there tasks that do not have a natural home that need to be planned for routinely?

• What is the overall priority, going forward, on supporting the tasks that particular team needs vs. reserving capacity for other activities related to the overall strategy? If there is a conflict, how should this be managed? Options include e.g. separating the way the capacity is made available (e.g. embedding people with relevant skills in the respective teams), reserving a certain percentage capacity to support either, defining a "surge" capacity for when more effort is needed

In some instances, e.g. where requests are captured via a ticketing system, there is data that can provide significant help in identifying the issues.

And if there is already a request or ticketing system, it’s helpful to include these questions up front so Team A can determine priorities directly from there or follow whichever process is defined to decide priorities.

It’s never too late to think about capacity and how it relates to portfolio planning and programme implementation, but earlier is better than after your programmes are getting delayed.

Whether you find this helpful or have feedback, questions or additional thoughts, I would love to hear from you: consult@steffisuhr.com