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/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.