We recently ran our first LearnOps Customer Roundtable on the topic of Tracking and Monitoring Team Capacity. These roundtable sessions aim to give our customers a space to engage, discuss and share ideas on topics that are important to them as L&D professionals.
We’ll be running more of these sessions in the future, but wanted to share some key takeaways for those that were not able to attend.
First, some background on the topic. “Capacity Planning” is a loosely used phrase in the L&D industry, however it can be summarized by the desire to be able to answer the following questions:
- What is your team currently working on?
- Do they have the capacity to take on more work?
- Who exactly on your team has capacity and who doesn’t?
- When should a new project begin based on resource availability?
- How do I prioritize and communicate our resourcing availability to business partners when the number of requests is greater than the resource hours available?
What became clear in our session is that this is a topic that is on everyone’s mind, but understanding when and where to start tracking capacity, what tools to use, and how to validate your data often make it seem challenging to get started. Here were some other key takeaways:
???? Understanding and managing your L&D teams capacity to take on additional work is something that is top of mind for all, but how to get started and what tools to use can pose a challenge.
⏰ The difference between time tracking and capacity management is something that is important to define and communicate to your team. While often used interchangeably, they aren’t the same.
⏳ Tracking estimated time versus actual time is an important step in legitimizing your capacity data. It’s not just tracking, it’s validation!
???? The link between training intake, project planning and capacity should not be understated. You need to understand where your work is coming from, how you’re allocating and prioritizing, and monitor your scheduling over time.
???? No team is too small to start tracking your capacity. Investing in this early can actually be key to securing more resources when needed.
Interested in joining us for more conversations that are important to you as L&D leaders? Sign up here to receive future invitations!
If you’re looking for more details on how Cognota helps make Capacity Planning easier – check out this video:
