Project Management: How to Manage Resources

Summary

In a whiteboard session titled 'How to Manage Resources,' Jennifer Whitt from projectmanager.com shares six essential tips for effective resource management in project settings. She emphasizes the importance of allocating time wisely across projects, blocking out unavailable times, and executing risk plans for critical people. Moreover, real-time tracking is crucial, as is recognizing bottlenecks and utilizing systems to manage projects rather than punish team members. These strategies aim to optimize resource use without overburdening individuals, ensuring projects run smoothly and on schedule.

Highlights

• Allocating time per project helps prevent spreading resources too thinly. ⏳
• Blocking out unavailable times ensures team members are not assigned tasks when they're out. 📅
• Executing a risk plan for critical resources helps manage unexpected changes. 🔄
• Real-time tracking helps avoid unexpected delays by keeping project updates current. 📈
• Recognizing bottlenecks allows for quick adjustments to the project plan. 🔍
• Using management systems appropriately promotes honesty and transparency. 🌟

Key Takeaways

• Allocate time per project to avoid over-committing your team members. 🕒
• Block out unavailable times to manage your project's expectations effectively. 🚫
• Have a risk plan for critical resources to tackle any unforeseen absences or reassignments. 🚨
• Implement real-time time tracking to maintain accurate project timelines. ⏰
• Recognize and address bottlenecks quickly to keep the project moving smoothly. 🚧
• Use management systems to guide rather than punish team members, promoting transparency and trust. 🌈

Overview

Jennifer Whitt from projectmanager.com walks us through her tried and tested tips on managing resources effectively in a project setting. The essence of her advice revolves around six core strategies that prevent over-allocation and help address potential issues proactively.

She stresses the importance of time allocation and blocking out unavailable times. This practice ensures that no team member is overburdened and that their unavailability doesn't disrupt project flow. Having a risk plan for crucial team members allows for smoother transitions when unforeseen changes occur.

Whitt also champions real-time time tracking and the quick recognition and resolution of bottlenecks. By utilizing management systems constructively, rather than punitively, teams are encouraged to be honest and transparent, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency and morale of the project team.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Tip 1: Allocating Time per Project The chapter introduces the topic of resource management tips, presented by Jennifer Whitt from projectmanager.com. The focus is on providing practical advice for managing resources effectively. The first tip discussed is the importance of allocating time per project. Jennifer emphasizes the frequent challenge of having multiple resources or people, highlighting the need to manage their time allocation efficiently across various projects.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Tip 2: Block Out Unavailable Time The chapter discusses the importance of accurately allocating time for team members who are involved in multiple projects. It emphasizes the potential failure in assigning resources to a project without considering their commitments to other projects, advocating instead for a calculated approach where time is divided per project in either percentage or hours. This ensures no team member is fully allocated to one project when they are actually spread across several. The chapter underscores the necessity of blocking out time that is unavailable to prevent over-allocation.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Tip 3: Execute a Risk Plan Tip 3: Execute a Risk Plan emphasizes the importance of considering team members' availability when planning project timelines. It highlights that team members are not always available 100% of their time due to meetings, vacations, or other commitments. Therefore, it is crucial to account for these times and ensure that critical deadlines are not assigned during periods when team members are unavailable. The chapter underlines the need to implement a risk management plan for essential human resources involved in the project.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Tip 4: Real-Time Time Tracking The chapter discusses the importance of real-time time tracking in projects. It emphasizes the need for a risk plan to deal with the potential reassignment or unavailability of critical team members. The plan includes identifying key individuals and updating estimates, especially if less experienced personnel need to take over tasks.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Tip 5: Recognize Bottlenecks and Adjust Quickly In this chapter titled 'Tip 5: Recognize Bottlenecks and Adjust Quickly,' the focus is on identifying obstructions in a project and making swift adjustments. The author discusses the importance of accurate estimations and emphasizes the role of timely resource calculation and allocation. One critical strategy mentioned is the requirement for real-time time tracking to prevent outdated estimations, which could derail the project schedule. Encouraging team members to frequently update their progress and giving them the tools to do so is highlighted as essential in maintaining accurate and current project timelines, ultimately aiding in the swift identification and resolution of bottlenecks.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Tip 6: Utilize Systems for Project Management Tip 6: Utilize Systems for Project Management stresses the importance of using structured systems to manage and oversee projects. It highlights the need to identify bottlenecks and address them promptly by ensuring that team members facing challenges get the necessary help promptly. By monitoring resources and workload effectively, one can avoid delays and improve the overall efficiency of the project.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Conclusion and Call to Action This chapter discusses the importance of effective project and resource management, emphasizing a positive approach rather than punitive measures. It highlights how certain management systems, like red, yellow, and green dashboards, can instill fear in team members if used as a punitive tool. The chapter advocates for a system that supports and empowers teams rather than punishing them for challenges or setbacks indicated by such dashboards.

Project Management: How to Manage Resources Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] hello i'm jennifer whitt director of projectmanager.com well welcome to our whiteboard session today on resource management tips what I want to share with you today are six tips that I've found that have been helpful in managing resources for my project so number one allocating time per project so many times we have resources or people who
• 00:30 - 01:00 are assigned to not only our project but other projects and the failure becomes when we try to allocate them a hundred percent a hundred percent on our project when they're spread across multiple projects so it's important to allocate time per project either in a percent and convert that to hours that you can assign them on your project therefore you prevent allocating a hundred percent of their time on your project when they're spread across multiple projects number to block out unavailable time so
• 01:00 - 01:30 the people on your team are not available a hundred percent of their time even if they're allocated to your project they're out for meetings or vacation or any other times they may be out of the office it's important to block that time out on their schedule so they're not assigned critical deadlines or times due during the times that they're out number three execute a risk plan for your critical resources or your critical people who are signed on your
• 01:30 - 02:00 project many times a critical person on your project may be reassigned to a higher priority project or taken off or for some reason not available on your project so it's important to implement the risk plan for those specific people to identify who they are and a risk plan in case something happens to the critical people many times we have to go back and update the estimates because if you reassign someone else who may not be as seasoned experienced or knowledgeable about the type of work they're doing
• 02:00 - 02:30 it's going to impact the estimate so it's important to rest amay and calculate for their resource that's coming in number four require real time time tracking in order to avoid delayed guest amounts or swags to your project they can definitely throw off your timeline so get your people in the habit of it tracking their time real time and give them the tools and accessibility to the project and so that they can update those easily number five recognized
• 02:30 - 03:00 bottlenecks and adjust quickly a lot of times you may have people working on your project who are bogged down for some reason maybe they're stuck on a problem or an issue that can't be resolved so they keep working it and working it and so maybe they haven't asked for help or indicated they're having a problem so it's important to watch your resources watch the time how they're working and avoid any bottlenecks and get them help quickly number six utilize systems to guide you
• 03:00 - 03:30 in the management of your project and the management of your resources instead of punishing the people on your team so some systems that people use our red yellow and green dashboards but the team members are in fear of the red yellow and green so if these systems are used to punish resources who maybe their items are in red maybe they if if those dashboards or systems are used to punish they may not
• 03:30 - 04:00 indicate their status correctly they may indicate everything's green or okay so they won't get in trouble instead of if they're used properly to help manage the project address any issues or risk or escalate in a timely manner if you use those properly then the team will have the trust and in order to report things accurately and so these are six tips that I found that if helpful in managing the resources on my projects and I hope they'll help you to if you need any tips
• 04:00 - 04:30 tools or techniques to help you manage your resources or better yet a tool to help you manage them accurately then sign up for our software at projectmanager.com