INTEGRATING UX INTO CAPACITY PLANNING

Summary from the TLDR Design newsletter

UX teams are often excluded from proper roadmap planning, with design work squeezed into whatever time remains before engineering starts, which leads to rushed decisions, poor research, and burnout. A more effective approach is to treat UX as a measurable part of delivery by creating a shared framework for estimating UX effort, tracking design and research tasks in tools like Jira or Linear, and incorporating those estimates into capacity planning. By aligning on strategy and priorities, estimating work realistically, and planning projects around team capacity—often with UX operating as its own squad—teams can make design work visible, manageable, and better integrated with product and engineering.