Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Solving Headcount Headaches
Dr. Andrew Makar is an IT program manager and is the author of the Microsoft Project Made Easy series. For more project management advice, visit the website TacticalProjectManagement.com.
The corporate challenge to continue to “do more with fewer resources” is a realistic scenario for corporations streamlining their operating budgets. Unsurprisingly, the cost pressures driving cost cutting and resource consolidation rarely seem to slow the work pipeline. Managers and business customers rarely ask project managers to “stop doing what you’re doing because you’re losing resources”. Instead, they are asked to find creative ways to deliver.
Managers often hear the request for additional staff to support a project. Requests can be ineffective if they don’t have the supporting data to justify additional resources. The end results are headcount headaches that leave the project manager feeling frustrated, project resource risk unmitigated and the management team feeling like the project team is simply complaining.
Does this scenario sound familiar? Instead of walking away with the ineffective mantra “work smarter not harder” ringing in your ears, a properly crafted resource proposal can increase the chances to increase in headcount for your project. In 2007, I wrote a series of articles on “Meet the Resource Management Model” that demonstrated how resource graphs can be used to model resource forecasts for current and future work in the project pipeline. The resource modeling technique …
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