Project Resource Management

It is a smart project manager who is able to effectively conduct project resource management. After all, think about it. Without experienced resources at the right times, it is impossible to deliver anything, let alone complex deliverables to tight timeframes. Therefore being able to get the resources required, when needed is an enviable skill for a project manager to have.

However the catch 22 is the trade-off between project cost controls and project resource management. It is not feasible nor desirable to keep resources on the project full-time simply in order to guarantee their availability to do a few days work. Further, in many Organisations this would not be allowed, because under a matrix management system where resources work on multiple projects, tasks need to be completed quickly so that the resource can move onto other projects.

Therefore you need to be smart in how you conduct your project resource management.

In a nutshell what you need to find a way in which you can get the resource you require, at the time required, to do the work you want and for the cheapest cost.

So how do you do this? Well we will go into much more detail elsewhere in this section but at a high level you have to:

1. Determine with each of your team leads what resources are required
2. Will this resource will be full-time, part-time, ad hoc or required for support
3. Determine Who are the single point of failures with regard to the resources required ie the skillsets required where potentially only one person can deliver what is required.
4. Check whether the resource you need will be available when required. If not then
5. Ascertain what other work is going on ie on other projects and when to see if there is a potential conflict of dates.
6. Check if the work be re-organised to ensure you get the resource you require when needed?
7. If you simply cannot get the person required because of either live issues (which always take priority) or other project work then you need to escalate this immediately up your reporting line.

Now Stages 1-6 should be determined by the time you are writing a project initiation document, or in the case of a smaller delivery; Project Charter. If you reach Stage 7 then this is the time to put it as an issue in your Issue Log, Project Initiation Document and also in your weekly project management report.

Project Resource Management - Tip

The key thought in your head when conducting project resource management needs to be, how to get the work done in the fastest time but with the least risk in terms of resources. In order to do this effectively you need to make sure you get the resource, and once working on your project, ensure they are able to do the work required as quickly as possible.