Capacity Allocation
Container handle for the structured 5-category engineering-capacity object — total engineers plus the per-bucket split across innovation, maintenance, tech debt, customer support, and sales support (each a percentage), with an optional innovation target. The bespoke product feed card renders this as the capacity-allocation donut the demo design shows. RICHER than the 3-way `product.capacity_allocation_pct` percentage triple — this carries the headcount + the five operating buckets the donut needs. Common pitfall: the five buckets not summing to 100% because a category (e.g. sales support) was omitted. — Product KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: product.capacity_allocation
Type: Text
Domain: Product
Definition
Container handle for the structured 5-category engineering-capacity object — total engineers plus the per-bucket split across innovation, maintenance, tech debt, customer support, and sales support (each a percentage), with an optional innovation target. The bespoke product feed card renders this as the capacity-allocation donut the demo design shows. RICHER than the 3-way product.capacity_allocation_pct percentage triple — this carries the headcount + the five operating buckets the donut needs. Common pitfall: the five buckets not summing to 100% because a category (e.g. sales support) was omitted.
Formula
Container — { totalEngineers, innovation, maintenance, techDebt, customerSupport, salesSupport, targetInnovation? }. The five percentage buckets sum to 100%; targetInnovation is the aspirational innovation share, not allocated capacity.Why it matters
Shows where engineering headcount actually goes across all five operating modes — the gap between innovation and its target is the clearest read on whether the company is investing in the future or absorbed by run-the-business work.
How to interpret
A large gap between innovation and targetInnovation (e.g. 32% vs 50%) means run-the-business work is crowding out new capabilities. Read alongside product.delivery_predictability — falling innovation with falling predictability is a capacity-crisis signal.
Related KPIs
product.capacity_allocation_pctproduct.innovation_capacity_pctproduct.total_engineersproduct.delivery_predictability
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
| Public | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.
Default owning functions
- Product
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/product/capacity_allocation.json - All Product KPIs:
/api/ontology/product.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Product KPIs
Roadmap, delivery, R&D efficiency, quality. 18 KPIs in this domain — 1 anchored to third-party standards, 17 editorial.
Capacity Allocation
Breakdown of engineering capacity across new features, maintenance, and tech debt — typically reported as a three-way split summing to 100%. The execution-level view of where engineering hours are actually going (vs. `innovation_capacity_pct` which is a single percentage for new-capabilities work, and vs. `offensive_roadmap_pct` which is a roadmap-classification percentage). Common pitfall: capacity allocation reported in plan rather than actuals. The plan can say 60% new features but the actuals can be 30% new features and 50% support work — the gap is the operating signal. Boards should require both planned and actual splits, at least quarterly. — Product KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).