Josh MoreeSr Executive Coach| Pax8 AcademyAtlanta, Ga, United States
What do you believe is the best approach, and why, in this scenario with multiple offices/locations, multiple PMs, multiple enginers.
Approach 1: Look at engineers as a resource pool which any PM can pull from where work is needed. • Pro – Possibly get more work done faster. • Con – PMs fighting over resources and scheduling (engineers see it as well) + less individual attention for engineers.
Approach 2: Divide engineers into smaller groups and assign to PMs to manage • Pro – PM does not have to fight over resources and scheduling + more synergy between the group. • Con – possibly get less done faster (in view of the overall company).
Thoughts? I’d love objective reasoning and not just opinion. Saving Changes...
I think you have already answered your question and I agree with this opinion: "Con – possibly get less done faster (in view of the overall company).
So dividing the engineers into smaller groups would slow down the organization overall because the human resources (engineers) are not going to be used in an efficient manner.
Think about having a very experienced senior engineer capable of providing very important input to many projects. If you lock him to a single project team then the other projects would struggle.
Also many times some project team members may not have too much work for a while on a project. You could use them on other projects instead of letting them do nothing on a project.
Also strong functional departments enable replacing team members easier on a project.
PMs may hate functional organizations but in the majority of situations they are the best solutions for most projects. By functional organizations I also include forms of matrix organizations where PMs have no authority over the project team members. Saving Changes...
"More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly."
