Learning Experience



The Learning Lab experience is supported by both asynchronous and synchronous components. Each part includes a set of resources, an asynchronous discussion, and an interactive live session, all of which culminate in the development of a project to apply learning to local and specific contexts in support of the learning objectives.

Schedule

Part 1: Aligning Team Capacity with Strategic Priorities

October 20, 2026 | 12:00–1:30 p.m.ET

IT teams face growing demand for new initiatives, often without the capacity to deliver everything requested. This session explores how overcommitment leads to burnout, missed expectations, and strategic drift. Participants will learn how to assess capacity at a strategic level, recognize when commitments exceed realistic limits, and use bounded funding approaches to guide better decisions about which work moves forward, and when.

Learning Objectives:

  • Distinguish strategic capacity planning from tactical resource scheduling.
  • Diagnose common signs that project demand exceeds available team capacity.
  • Define capacity in terms of skills, availability, focus, and sustainable energy.
    • Use bounded funding concepts to support realistic project prioritization and sequencing.

Part 2: Putting Prioritization into Practice

October 22, 2026 | 12:00–1:30 p.m.ET

This session will help participants move from reactive project intake to a more structured, data-informed approach to prioritization. Participants will learn how to clarify vague requests, estimate resource needs, account for hidden operational work, and evaluate competing initiatives using impact-versus-effort scoring. The session also explores how teams can balance planned work with emergency capacity and communicate realistic alternatives when new requests cannot be addressed immediately.

Learning Objectives:

  • Convert unclear project requests into defined resource and capacity requirements.
  • Recognize hidden operational work and emergency demands that affect delivery capacity.
  • Use impact-versus-effort scoring to compare and prioritize competing initiatives.
  • Communicate data-backed alternatives to stakeholders when requests cannot be addressed immediately.

Part 3: Traditional Waterfall and Agile Framework: Classroom Exercise

October 27, 2026 | 12:00–1:30 p.m.ET

This session gives participants hands-on simulations dedicated to experiencing how Waterfall and Agile/Scrum approaches shape project sizing and capacity planning. Participants will use requirements from a student health portal scenario called Healthy.Me to estimate project size, define resource needs, and consider delivery expectations in a traditional waterfall model. They will then apply Agile/Scrum practices to a similar portal scenario by estimating story points, assessing team capacity, and planning work iteratively.

Learning Objectives:

  • Apply waterfall planning techniques to size a project from gathered requirements.
  • Define resource needs for a traditional student health portal implementation.
  • Use story points and team capacity to estimate work in an Agile/Scrum scenario.
  • Explain key differences between waterfall and Agile/Scrum capacity planning approaches.

Part 4: Communicating Capacity Limits to Stakeholders

October 29, 2026 | 12:00–1:30 p.m.ET

This session focuses on improving project outcomes through stronger stakeholder engagement and clearer capacity communication. Participants will learn how to move conversations away from anecdotal impressions and toward a shared, structured language for discussing demand, capacity, and tradeoffs. The session introduces the Gather, Cultivate, Grow, and Enable phases, along with practical tools such as T-shirt sizing and monthly dashboards, to help leaders maintain communication cadence, reduce process silos, and offer data-backed alternatives when priorities exceed available capacity.

Participants will use breakout discussions and group share-outs to refine a practical stakeholder communication and action plan.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the role of stakeholder engagement in improving project success and capacity decisions.
  • Recognize interpersonal, organizational, and logistical barriers to effective capacity conversations.
  • Apply the Gather, Cultivate, Grow, and Enable phases to strengthen stakeholder communication.
  • Understand how to use different tools, such as T-shirt sizing and visual dashboards, to support data-backed stakeholder conversations.

Lab Project/Assignments

Your lab project will be developing your Capacity & Resource Management Action Toolkit. This tool kit will include:

  • A draft capacity problem statement for their unit.
  • A rough project sizing and capacity worksheet.
  • A stakeholder communication script or dashboard mockup.
  • A 30-day action plan for applying one tool back home.