So often I talk with project managers who feel their company does not give them the right resources to deliver on the projects they are expected to deliver. Project managers are regularly asked to do "with what they have" and have to make trade-offs which potentially impact the success of a project.
If you feel this way, you are not alone.
Based on my experience, the issue isn't the amount of resources a company has to allocate to projects - the issue is actually that companies really don't know how many projects they have!
One thing you can do as a project manager is to take a true assessment of the projects in your organization or department. For example, you work in a large IT shop and your senior management has identified 10 projects that are critical to deliver this year, you believe that the entire organization of 300 employees is working on possibly 30 or 40 projects because your organization tracks on project management software any projects over $50,000 in cost. Do the following:
1. Ask each department manager for a list of all the projects that his/her team is working on.
2. Compile that list between all of the departments and eliminate any duplicate projects - you only need to account for the project once.
SURPRISE! My expectation is that the list of 30 or 40 projects is really something more like 120 projects. And for a staff of 300, that means just over 2 resources are allocated 100% to any project. Yikes! Why is that?
For one, when you work in a large IT shop (or any large organization) there will always be projects that do not get reported into corporate management. These are the smaller, department-specific projects that the manager is aware of and is delivering them as part of his/her department budget.
Secondly, and especially in IT shops, there are always the "urgent" projects that must be done that aren't part of the top 10 projects. These are customer down time, urgent bug-fixes, small enhancements, etc. Although there may be a support team that is supposedly dedicated to these projects, resolving these issues requires tapping into resources that may be allocated to the larger more "important" projects.
Thirdly, departments inherently work in their silos and may not be aware of other projects going on.
Finally, just because a project doesn't cost $50,000, doesn't mean it shouldn't be accounted for!
My recommendation is:
1. Capture all projects you have on your project management software. All projects require resources and to manage resources effectively you need to understand the work that is needed in your organization.
2. Utilize resource pools to assign resources to projects. Resource pools and calendars within your project management software can give you visibility into where resource availability and scarcity lies in your organization.
3. Prioritize projects as a team, utilizing corporate goals and objectives. If there are truly only 10 top projects for your organization, then they should be given every opportunity to succeed. That will mean that resources may not be available to the other 110 projects!
There is a reason why organizations create goals and objectives. It is to keep the organization focused on reaching its mission and vision. You need to do your part and make sure these projects are NOT resource strapped.
Diane Altwies, MBA, PMP
Diane Altwies has a proven track record of delivering completed projects to the marketplace through effective leadership of multi-disciplinary teams with a strong customer focus. She has more than 21 years managing software development projects, and over 14 years experience in the insurance, financial services, mortgage lending, and healthcare industries.
Janice Y. Preston, MBA, CPA, PMP
Janice Preston has been managing projects for more than 20 years in industries as diverse as real estate, financial services and the PC industry. Ms. Preston has been a principal with Vista Performance Group since 1991, consulting in project management for information services, health care, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and automotive. Some of her clients include Boeing, Countrywide, Nissan, Balboa Insurance, Allergan, Computer Sciences Corporation, Capital Group Companies, and Southern California Edison.
