Capacity is a number, not a feeling

Ask a team whether the next two weeks are overcommitted and you get a feeling. Usually a slightly anxious one. Ask the tool and, in most tools, you get nothing, because the tool does not know who is on holiday, who is part-time and who already has three items from last cycle.

Cairn's capacity view is deliberately plain. Each person has hours available in the cycle, adjusted for time off and working pattern. Each item has an estimate, if the team uses them. The bar fills up. When it goes red, you can see whose it is and which item to move.

We resisted making this a forecast. It does not predict velocity or pretend to know how long the unknown will take. It shows the commitment against the calendar, which is the thing a planning meeting is trying to work out anyway, and it does it in a second rather than an hour.