Capacity model
A capacity model is a spreadsheet that converts headcount into the number of accounts an agency can serve at standard: hours available per role, times a realistic utilization target, divided by the hours one account actually consumes. Measured consumption usually runs about 1.4 times the quoted scope.
It is built per role rather than per team, because the role that runs out of hours first sets the ceiling and it is rarely the role people assume. An agency can have idle designers and still be at capacity because the strategist is full.
The model turns hiring into arithmetic. With it, you can state what one more account requires in hours and seats before you sign it, and what the next hire costs in bench before the pipeline fills it.
Related terms
Not sure which of these is capping you?
Six questions, two minutes, and the diagnostic names the one constraint worth working on first.