Absence Rates Sprint Capacity Calculator
Estimate your team’s realistic sprint capacity after allowing for planned and typical unplanned absences.
Overview
This Absence Rates Sprint Capacity Calculator estimates the delivery time your team may have during a sprint after allowing for absences and routine team overhead. Enter the team size, sprint length, daily hours, expected absence rate, and non-delivery time allowance to support a more realistic sprint commitment.
How it works
The calculator starts with gross person-days: team members multiplied by sprint working days. It subtracts the selected absence percentage to estimate time still available. It then removes the team overhead percentage from the remaining time. The final capacity is shown in both person-days and productive hours. This provides a planning baseline rather than a prediction of exactly how much work will be completed.
How to use this calculator
- 1Enter the number of team members contributing to sprint work.
- 2Set the number of working days in the sprint.
- 3Add each person’s usual scheduled hours per day.
- 4Estimate the percentage of time likely to be lost to leave, sickness, or other absences.
- 5Include an allowance for ceremonies, meetings, support, and administration, then review the available capacity.
Example Calculation
Team members
6
Sprint working days
10
Work hours per person per day
8
Expected absence rate
8%
Team overhead rate
20%
Estimated sprint capacity
44.2 person-days
The team has 60 gross person-days. Allowing 8% for absences and 20% for overhead leaves an estimated 44.2 productive person-days, or about 353 productive hours.
Frequently asked questions
What is sprint capacity?
Sprint capacity is the amount of time a team can realistically devote to planned delivery work during a sprint. It is often measured in person-days or hours.
How should I choose an absence rate?
Use recent team data where available, then include known leave, public holidays, training, and a reasonable allowance for unplanned absence. Update the rate as patterns change.
Should planned leave be included in the absence rate?
Yes. You can include planned leave in the absence rate for a quick estimate. For greater accuracy, reduce capacity separately for known individual absences before setting the sprint commitment.
What counts as team overhead?
Team overhead can include sprint ceremonies, meetings, production support, administration, internal communication, learning time, and other work not allocated to planned backlog items.
Why is capacity shown in person-days and hours?
Person-days are useful for team-level planning, while hours can help when work is estimated or scheduled in hours. Both represent the same capacity using your daily-hours setting.
Can I convert sprint capacity directly into story points?
Not reliably. Story points are team-specific relative estimates, so use your team’s historical velocity alongside capacity rather than applying a universal conversion.
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Assumptions and warnings
Assumptions
- All team members have the same scheduled hours per working day.
- The absence rate is applied evenly across the team’s total scheduled sprint time.
- The team overhead rate covers time that is not normally available for planned delivery work.
- Results are planning estimates and should be adjusted for known individual leave, public holidays, and specialist availability.