Allocating and Managing Constrained Resources

This chapter provides a variety of techniques for monitoring the resources used within your project. The emphasis is on human resources, but the principles can be applied to any project resource.

Practical Tips

  • Similar does not mean equal: Similar resources are not necessarily interchangeable. For instance, two people might work under the title "Senior Designer". However, because of education and experience, one of them might be far more suited to your project. The problem is, computerized resource allocation methods often fail to distinguish differences among similar resources. Whenever possible, take the time to evaluate the people and other resources that are key to your project to ensure that you have allocated the appropriate resources. Plan projects based on an average capability resource. That way, across all projects, the estimates should even out to be about right. If it takes a good designer three days to design a part and a less capable designer five days, you should plan on four days for designer time.
  • Economic downturns and upturns can affect resource availability: Economic conditions influence the cost and availability of high-demand resources. You might need some expertise that changing economic conditions or changing technical requirements make it difficult for you to get when you need it. The same may be true in reverse. Sometimes, because the economy is in a downturn, certain resources become more available. These factors may influence the cost and availability of resources needed for your project.
  • Share resource allocation decisions to gain buy-in: If possible, try to make resource allocation decisions available to your entire organization. This will encourage people outside your specific project to buy into your project's goals. It can also help minimize the kind of resentment that arises when project managers are competing for scarce resources. This phenomenon is explained in the blog post "5 Ways Top Project Managers Allocate Their Resources":

Resourcing isn't just for your team – it applies to the rest of your company too. Think beyond project life cycle planning; when allocations are visible to everyone, the entire agency can see how pieces fit together and where their "quick tweaks" or internal projects align with the grand scheme of things. This can significantly cut down on emails, facilitate conversations that would otherwise require rounds of meetings, and serve as a precursor to monthly budget reviews or executive presentations. A resourcing system visible to key parties and departments, and sortable by tasks and skills, can help tremendously while preparing budgets and schedules. Top project managers make sure the bigger picture is always in perspective.

  • Keep marginal costs in mind: Economies of scale prevail in resource management, but only to a certain point. You need to keep in mind the marginal cost of a resource. For example, the hourly cost of labor may be fixed to a point, but once you move from regular hours to overtime hours, the marginal cost increases significantly. So always look at the marginal cost of existing personnel or equipment hours, versus the new marginal cost of adding personnel or equipment hours.
  • Think strategically about who should control a particular resource: As you have more control over a resource at the project level, you typically have more cost for carrying that resource through the project. That does give you more flexibility, but what is best at the project level may not be best for the overall organization. It's possible that having a resource controlled at the organizational level may give greater flexibility for the organization overall.
  • Understand minimum units of allocation: It's rarely helpful to allocate 3.8 people to a task. Instead, it is almost always more realistic to allocate 4 people full-time. Similarly, most facilities can only be realistically hired by the day/week and not by the hour/minute. Understanding minimum units of allocation is important in realistic planning.
  • Plan for shared resources: In an ideal world, all resources are dedicated solely to your project. However, it is more common to have shared resources. If you are working on a project with shared resources, you'll need to schedule your use of those resources even more carefully than if they were dedicated solely to your project.
  • Be prepared to wait for resources: Some equipment or facilities have to be booked in advance. Once you book them, you may not have flexibility to change your dates. This is a good opportunity to practice contingency planning: what other work can continue while you wait for a resource to become available?
  • Beware personnel turnover: In long-running projects, highly skilled people retiring or moving on to new jobs can be a major issue, and something you should beware of as you allocate human resources to your project. Any transition of key leadership can have an impact on a project's progress and directly affect its overall success. Do all you can to proactively manage transitions throughout a project. Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, by William Bridges, is a classic resource on managing change in the workplace. It includes practical assessments that the readers can use to improve their own transition management skills.
  • Allocate resources by name when necessary: If a specific resource – such as a particular test cell or person – is essential to project success, then take care to allocate that resource on a named basis, rather than as a general category of resource – for example, "Anita Gomez," rather than "Designer". However, you should avoid this specificity in all but the most critical cases, as it reduces flexibility and hinders developmental opportunities (increasing general bench strength).
  • Do all you can to prevent burnout: Be careful of overextending the people on your team. Stretching to the point of strain can cause unnecessary turnover, with no extra hours available for pitching in at crunch times. A good rule of thumb is to allocate a person 85%; this leaves time for vacation, development, and company projects.