Misallocation of resources leads to communication chaos and projects are at risk.
I'm a big advocate of establishing resource management processes, regardless of team size. In fact, thoughtful team planning can accelerate your growth early on and keep your company healthy.
We will review the most important steps you need to take to reap the benefits of resource management.
Increase team visibility to distinguish successful projects from unsuccessful ones.
Many teams face limited team visibility, which leads to overworked employees, project delays, or miscommunication between different project managers.
A global resource calendar is essential for businesses of all sizes. Are you the only person responsible for resource allocation in your company? You still need to see exactly who is assigned to you and what their australia telegram phone numbers workload is (as project managers... we know the importance of workload management).
A list of employees is a good place to start, but I highly recommend assigning attributes like job titles, seniority, or location (if you’re working with a virtual team ) so you can easily filter resources. Project managers who haven’t worked with specific team members before don’t necessarily know their skills, so having a global project schedule with custom tags like this helps them decide who to assign to a specific project.
Another thing to consider when trying to improve resource allocation efficiency is workload. It’s common for companies to over-rely on one employee and neglect others who could do a certain task. By looking at the schedule, you can spot over- and under-utilized people and then level out their tasks.
Your sales and product teams will also appreciate the increased team visibility, allowing them to make informed decisions about deadlines when negotiating new deals or deciding on more features for your app.
Increase team visibility to keep successful projects ahead of unsuccessful ones
Let’s say you have three designers working for a company who have no immediate assignments to work on a newly won project. Based solely on their workload schedule, you can make or break your options. But it turns out that one of these designers is on sick leave, another is on vacation, and the third designer just asked to work part-time this month.
And that’s how your project is put at risk, and you may have to postpone it or hire additional designers, both of which would usually affect your financial situation.
Knowing your team's workload is essential for successful resource allocation.
Whether your employee is on a long vacation or just a half-day, you and your project managers need to know who is realistically available to take on new tasks.
Ideally, you should have a single schedule that shows both team tasks and availability so you can take both into account when planning projects. Ask part-time workers and freelancers you work with frequently to share their daily availability with you.