Getting the resources wrong will impact your project

The definition of the word “priority” seems to have been lost in translation in the world of project management. Wanting everything done “as a priority” can cause chaos in project deadlines and could even result in the procrastination of a project team due to the perplexity of working on too many critical needs.

According to Guy Jelley, chief executive officer of local project management software provider Post Vision Technology, the prioritisation of projects is merely one of the challenges faced by management when planning the people resources required per project – a task that is often made more complex than is necessary.

“Resource planning can be simple if the three key elements of having the right resources at the right time and in right quantities are followed,” he says. The right resources are people with the correct skills and experience to complete the tasks at hand. The right time means that these resources are available to work on the tasks when required, in order to ensure that the end dates and other operational tasks are not affected.

Right quantities make certain that there are sufficient resources or enough hours available per resource to complete the tasks. “If all three elements are realistically scrutinised, then a project has the strong foundation it needs to be completed on time, within budget and with the necessary quality,” says Jelley.

“Getting the resources wrong will impact your project.” There is, however, no “one size fits all” template when it comes to resource planning, as it is dependent on an organisation’s culture. “For example, is there a ‘get it done’ culture of senior skilled people, or are many junior staff members working on a project under constant supervision by senior staff?” asks Jelley.

“Resource planning also depends on who the resources report to and where they are placed in an organisation – this could be a business unit or a project management office. “Another ingredient of resource planning would be to determine if the team consists of contract or full-time employees and if they can dedicate themselves 100% to a project; or do they carry additional operational responsibility too?” he adds.

Once a project manager has taken cognisance of the above elements, resource planning can commence. Jelley says that a simple method to ensure the success of resource planning is to verify who is in the resource pool, including contractors and consultants. Next, is to acknowledge the available capacity per person. That is, realistically recognise what each person’s available capacity is and allow enough time for other operational tasks.

“From experience, we can see that actual versus planned time spent on projects can differ enormously. It is therefore better not to be too optimistic about how much time a person will spend on a project task and to rather overestimate the time that an employee spends on other operational tasks – or plan two teams of people,” Jelley advises.

Once the actual resources and their capacities have been concluded, a project manager must ensure that there is clear visibility around the resources and what project tasks they are planned on, as well as when these must take place. This information needs to be easily available
and accessible.“Next, it is critical to ensure that each project is prioritised so that a resource working on multiple projects understands that work is to be completed based on the project’s priority status and the agreed deadline dates,” says Jelley.

“In large organisations that run numerous projects at the same time, management often deems up to five projects as having a number-one priority status. This results in a stumbling block for accurate resource planning per project as a specialised resource working on more than one project is not offered proper operational direction and will often choose to work on a project that he/she prefers or thinks is more important, to the detriment of other project’s timelines.”

After this step, Jelley advises project managers to measure “actual” time spent on a task. “That is, ask resources to complete timesheets using the same detail and criteria as used in planning. This will guarantee that the actual time spent on the task is measured correctly. “Once a project manager has these tangible results, a comparison between planned versus actual can take place. From here, a project manager is in a better position to understand if and why there are large variances, address these and push the lessons learnt back into the planning and resource allocation process to achieve an optimal resource plan,” he adds. Following these basic steps will fill the potential faulty cracks in resource planning, resulting in quality projects within allocated budget and time frames.

“In summary, if the actual resource allocation does not match the project plan, non-project tasks are not taken into account, each project is marked as a priority one project and the project manager does not measure in detail the actual time spent on a task versus the time planned per task, then the project cracks will widen until there is a bottomless pit into which time, budgets and deadlines will disappear,” concludes Jelley.

About Post Vision Technology

Post Vision Technology is a leading provider of project portfolio management software solutions to businesses ranging from small and medium enterprises to major corporates. Its locally developed Web-based software tool, PPO (Project Portfolio Office), assists organisations to manage projects and project portfolios across various industries. Offered on a Software as a Service platform, it provides organisations access to the application on a hosted and rental basis over the Internet. Post Vision’s PPO Partner Programme allows project management consultancies to become certified to provide implementation, training and support services for PPO.

For more information, visit www.postvision.co.za.