loader image
Skip to main content
If you continue browsing this website, you agree to our policies:
x
Completion requirements

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.

Allocating and Managing Constrained Resources

Limitless material resources are not only unavailable most of the time, they may actually be a hindrance. And remaining lean and mean can often be a blessing.

 – Michael Gibbert, Martin Hoegl, and Liisa Välikangas

Objectives

After reading this lesson, you will be able to

  • Discuss basic concepts related to resource management, including over-commitment and over-allocation
  • Explain some geometric-order resource optimization techniques, including resource leveling, resource smoothing, and the critical chain approach
  • Describe challenges related to resource allocation in Agile
  • Discuss ideas related to sustainability and the triple bottom line
  • Identify issues affecting resource management at the portfolio level
  • List some advantages of resources constraints

The Big Ideas in this Lesson

  • You have to have the right resources at the right time. This involves staying flexible and making changes as necessary, rather than hewing to a predefined structure that might not be useful as conditions change.
  • Constraints on resources are inevitable, but by combining geometric-order techniques such as resource leveling and resource smoothing with an adaptive, living order approach, you can prevent project crises.
  • Project managers have to look outside their projects to find the resources they need. Somehow, within their organizations, they have to secure the resources they need. Meanwhile, on the portfolio-level, executives have to manage resources to ensure that they are available for many projects over the long term.

Source: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/technicalpm/chapter/allocating-and-managing-constrained-resources/
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.