Having been running projects of all sizes for decades now, the subject of planning resources is always out there as an issue and one that there is no silver bullet but again something that comes down to common sense and common continued practice. As I thought about how to plan resources more effectively I looked at how I plan my own time week by week. It can be hectic to have regular meetings, last minute priority meetings and keep up with assigned work. Now multiply this across a project team resources, who don’t get allocated full time to projects, but have to share time across multiple projects and we have a logistical nightmare to solve and continue to move our projects along and meet our ‘customer’ expectations.

As a leader you have to plan what you need to get done over the next week, month etc. Typically you care more about what you achieve as opposed to how long it will take you as your focus is on results. So when planning and executing projects how much time do we spend worrying about effort? Think about working with the team and agreeing what can be achieved in certain timeframes and get their commitment to meet that and to ‘go with’ the normal environmental aspects such as emergency meetings, unassigned work etc. This means forming a team that buys into the goals of the project and takes responsibility for their role in achieving them. Too little time is spent on forming a team today and enjoying the shared connection that brings – lets get back to teams and team work and see what great things can be achieved so we can stop sweating the small stuff.

And by the way managing a team through mutual respect for each others contribution and no sense of fear in asking for help is a must. More to come on resource planning…..