How are we doing capacity planning in native Jira Cloud?

[Justine]

Has anyone had success doing capacity/resource planning in Jira cloud, using native functionality only (no plugins)? 

Our team has dwindled down over the past year or so and each person has far too much work on their plate. I am trying to find a good way to see how much work they have currently assigned to them and what they can actually get done per week going forward. 

We are currently using a Kanban board setup, and tracking work with Epics and Stories. The only thing I can think of is to use the 'Original estimate' and 'Time tracking' fields (and possibly 'Start date') and then view this in the Timeline view of our project board. However, the ghantt chart doesn't do much in terms of seeing how many hours they've estimated and where they might have space to do more or less work. 

I've created a test Epic with three test Stories under it, each with various different "estimates" and due dates. This is how it displays for me when I look at the timeline. Is there a different view or something I am missing or another way to accomplish this that I haven't thought of? 

We aren't going back to using sprints/story points so that is out of the question. We also are not able to install any 3rd party plugins due to budget constraints and HIPAA compliance requirements, so please no mention of plugins :) Looking to accomplish this in some way, shape, or form using native Jira functionality only, if possible. Doesn't have to be perfect, but just an idea. 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help and/or has ideas!

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Justine 

Given that you are using the premium plan your instance includes the Plans feature.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/get-started-with-advanced-roadmaps/

That feature has some capacity planning capabilities in it.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/manage-capacity-in-advanced-roadmaps/

I don't use it on a regular basis, but you may find it useful.

You might find more information in the Learning center linked at the top of the Community pages.

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog?search=Jira+plans

[Akash Singh]

@Justine Just to add to Trudy's answer, Atlassian is currently developing an Individual Capacity Planning feature for Plans, which is presently available through the Early Access Program (EAP). You can learn more about it here.

[Justine]

Thanks @Trudy Claspill - I'll check that out! I think we were previously using Plans before the new timeline feature rolled out and it seemed like everything moved to that, but I'll look into it again. 

@Akash Singh That would be amazing. Will definitely check this out too. 

[Joshua Brock _ Seibert Group_ GmbH]

Hey @Justine


Native capacity planning in Jira Cloud is genuinely thin, and it's thinnest exactly where you are on a Kanban board. The built-in sprint capacity view only exists for scrum sprints (capacity in story points or hours), so it won't help a Kanban setup directly.

Given that, your instinct is the right one. The most workable native approach is to lean on Original estimate + Time tracking, with Start date/Due date for sequencing, and then surface load per person rather than per sprint:

• Build a dashboard and add a workload-style gadget (for example the Workload Pie Chart gadget, or a Two Dimensional Filter Statistics gadget) grouped by Assignee, summing Original estimate or Remaining estimate. That gives you a current "how much is on each person's plate" view.
• Scope it with a JQL filter such as `assignee = X AND statusCategory != Done` so you're only counting open, assigned work.
• For "what they can actually get done per week" going forward, native Jira won't forecast it for you — the closest honest signal is historical throughput (issues or estimate completed per week), which you can read off a Control Chart or Cumulative Flow Diagram and use as your weekly capacity baseline.

If you run Jira Premium, Plans (Advanced Roadmaps) also has a capacity view, but it's iteration-based, so it fits better if you introduce sprints than it does for pure Kanban.

You asked specifically for native-only, so the above is where I'd start, and it should get you a usable picture without adding anything.

If down the line you lift the no-plugin constraint, particularly if the team grows back out and you end up coordinating capacity across several teams toward shared goals, I will just offer that Agile Hive handles team and increment-level capacity planning inside Jira, with workload rolling up through a Portfolio→Solution→ART→Team hierarchy and no separate system of record to maintain.

It's a paid Marketplace app, so it's only worth it if you outgrow what native can do; there's a free trial via our Atlassian Marketplace listing if you ever want to compare.

Just in full disclosure, I work at Seibert Group, the team behind Agile Hive.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

Joshua
Content Writer & US Representative
Agile Hive and Aura Apps (products of Seibert Group GmbH)