stephenrogan

capacity-calculator

0
0
# Install this skill:
npx skills add stephenrogan/csm-skills --skill "capacity-calculator"

Install specific skill from multi-skill repository

# Description

Assesses whether a CSM's book of accounts is manageable given the mix of account tiers, health states, upcoming events, and strategic demands. Produces a capacity assessment with overload indicators, rebalancing suggestions, and evidence for headcount conversations. Use when asked to assess workload, evaluate book capacity, determine if a CSM is overloaded, justify additional headcount, plan account distribution, or when a CSM or manager needs to understand whether the portfolio is sustainable. Also triggers for questions about CSM capacity, workload management, account-to-CSM ratios, book balance, portfolio sizing, or when to hire.

# SKILL.md


name: capacity-calculator
description: Assesses whether a CSM's book of accounts is manageable given the mix of account tiers, health states, upcoming events, and strategic demands. Produces a capacity assessment with overload indicators, rebalancing suggestions, and evidence for headcount conversations. Use when asked to assess workload, evaluate book capacity, determine if a CSM is overloaded, justify additional headcount, plan account distribution, or when a CSM or manager needs to understand whether the portfolio is sustainable. Also triggers for questions about CSM capacity, workload management, account-to-CSM ratios, book balance, portfolio sizing, or when to hire.
license: MIT
metadata:
author: Stephen Rogan
version: "1.0.0"
standalone: true


Capacity Calculator

Assesses whether a CSM's portfolio is manageable by computing the weighted workload across all accounts. Raw account count is a poor measure of capacity -- a CSM with 30 enterprise at-risk accounts is more loaded than a CSM with 80 healthy SMB accounts. This skill computes the actual demand.

How to Use

Provide:
- Your account list with: name, ARR, segment/tier, health status, renewal proximity, and any special circumstances (active escalation, expansion in progress, onboarding)
- Your available hours per week (typically 35-40 after internal meetings and admin)
- Any upcoming capacity constraints (PTO, projects, training)

Capacity Model

Step 1: Compute Per-Account Demand

Each account consumes a different amount of CSM time based on its characteristics:

Base demand by segment:

Segment Base Hours/Month Rationale
Enterprise 8-12 hours Multi-stakeholder, strategic, deep engagement expected
Mid-Market 3-5 hours Regular cadence, moderate complexity
SMB 1-2 hours Light touch, digital-first with periodic check-ins
Scaled/Tech-Touch 0.5 hours Automated primarily, engage on signal only

Demand multipliers:

Factor Multiplier Rationale
Health: Strong 0.7x Less intervention needed. Standard cadence
Health: Healthy 1.0x Baseline management
Health: At Risk 1.5x Additional investigation, intervention, monitoring
Health: Critical 2.5x Save play, frequent touchpoints, escalation management
Renewal in 90 days 1.3x Renewal preparation, commercial conversations, stakeholder engagement
Active escalation 1.5x Escalation management, internal coordination, customer communication
Onboarding (first 90 days) 1.5x Intensive engagement, training, milestone tracking
Expansion in progress 1.2x Commercial preparation, stakeholder engagement

Per-account demand = Base hours * Product of applicable multipliers

Step 2: Compute Total Portfolio Demand

Sum the per-account demand across all accounts. Compare to available capacity:

Metric Computation What It Means
Total monthly demand Sum of all per-account demands How many hours your portfolio requires
Available monthly capacity Available hours/week * 4.3 How many hours you have
Capacity utilisation Total demand / Available capacity How loaded you are
Buffer 1.0 - Capacity utilisation How much room you have for the unexpected

Step 3: Classify Capacity Status

Utilisation Status Interpretation
<70% Underloaded Room for more accounts or deeper strategic work on existing accounts
70-85% Healthy Sustainable workload with buffer for surprises
85-95% Stretched Manageable but no buffer. Any new escalation or at-risk account will push into overload
95-110% Overloaded Not sustainable. Something is being dropped -- usually the proactive, strategic work that prevents future crises
>110% Critical Unsustainable. Active harm to accounts is occurring through neglect. Immediate rebalancing or support needed

Step 4: Identify Rebalancing Opportunities

If overloaded, the skill identifies:

Lever How Trade-Off
Move accounts to a peer CSM Transfer lowest-ARR, healthiest accounts that require the least relationship continuity Relationship disruption on the transferred accounts
Shift accounts to scaled/tech-touch Move healthy low-ARR accounts to a lower-touch model Reduced relationship depth. Monitor for health changes
Defer strategic work Delay account strategy, multi-threading, and proactive initiatives Short-term relief at the cost of long-term portfolio health
Request temporary support Ask for a colleague to take on escalation management or QBR prep for specific accounts Coordination overhead. Customer may interact with an unfamiliar CSM
Make the headcount case Use the capacity data to justify additional hiring Timeline: 2-6 months to hire, onboard, and ramp a new CSM. Not a quick fix

Output Format

## Capacity Assessment: [CSM Name]
**Date:** [date]

### Portfolio Summary
| Segment | Accounts | Base Demand (hrs/mo) |
|---------|----------|---------------------|
| Enterprise | [n] | [hours] |
| Mid-Market | [n] | [hours] |
| SMB | [n] | [hours] |

### Demand Modifiers
| Factor | Accounts Affected | Additional Demand (hrs/mo) |
|--------|------------------|--------------------------|
| At Risk | [n] accounts | +[hours] |
| Critical | [n] accounts | +[hours] |
| Renewal <90 days | [n] accounts | +[hours] |
| Onboarding | [n] accounts | +[hours] |
| Active escalation | [n] accounts | +[hours] |

### Capacity Status
- Total demand: [hours/month]
- Available capacity: [hours/month]
- Utilisation: [%]
- Status: [Underloaded / Healthy / Stretched / Overloaded / Critical]
- Buffer: [hours/month available for unplanned work]

### Top Demand Accounts
[5 accounts consuming the most CSM time, with demand breakdown]

### Recommendations
[Rebalancing suggestions if overloaded, or strategic opportunities if underloaded]

Using This for Headcount Justification

The capacity model produces the evidence a CS leader needs to make a hiring case:

Data Point What It Shows
Utilisation >95% sustained for 2+ months The team is structurally overloaded, not just having a busy month
At-risk accounts not getting intervention time Revenue is being left unprotected because CSMs do not have capacity to run save plays
Proactive work at zero Multi-threading, account strategy, and adoption planning are not happening because all time goes to reactive work. This is a leading indicator of future risk
New accounts cannot be properly onboarded Growth is creating churn risk because new customers do not get the onboarding attention they need

Frame the ask as: "At current utilisation, we are deferring [X hours/month] of proactive work that protects [EUR Y] in ARR. A new hire at [cost] would recover [Z] hours of capacity and reduce the unprotected ARR."

Quality Gates

  • Are the segment classifications accurate? An account labelled "SMB" that actually requires mid-market engagement will undercount demand
  • Are the multipliers applied honestly? Tempting to downplay the demand of at-risk accounts to make the number look manageable. The model is only useful if it reflects reality
  • Does the buffer account for realistic variability? A month with zero surprises is fiction. 15-20% buffer is the minimum for a sustainable portfolio
  • If overloaded, is the rebalancing recommendation specific? "Reduce workload" is not a recommendation. "Transfer 5 SMB accounts (EUR 35k combined ARR, all healthy) to scaled motion to free 8 hours/month" is

Principles

  • Account count is a vanity metric. Capacity is a function of ARR-weighted, health-adjusted, event-modified demand -- not the number of logos on the list. 40 accounts is not a meaningful statement without knowing the mix
  • Chronic overload is a management failure, not a CSM resilience test. A CSM operating at 110% utilisation for 3 months is not performing heroically -- they are being set up to fail. The capacity model makes this visible
  • The capacity model is an argument, not a complaint. Presenting utilisation data with revenue impact and risk quantification is a business case. Saying "I am too busy" is a complaint. The model produces the former
  • Underloaded CSMs are an opportunity, not a problem. If utilisation is below 70%, the CSM has room for deeper strategic work, more accounts, or both. Use the capacity data to make that case as well

# Supported AI Coding Agents

This skill is compatible with the SKILL.md standard and works with all major AI coding agents:

Learn more about the SKILL.md standard and how to use these skills with your preferred AI coding agent.