This is my first post and I am very excited to engage with the community on this website. I have been longing to exchange and network with other project managers for many months.
I would like to ask you about your best practices when dealing with the planning of your teams.
I work in a digital agency, we have multiple projects running simultaneously and our 30+ experts can work on 3-6 projects at the same time. We struggle with the planning because, well, life happens and a client doesn't provide feedback on time, there are delays, these cause bottlenecks, projects need to shift... I believe we are not the only one.
We use a self-made tool in Excel for resource planning per week per project (demand vs allocation per person, but it is not always reflecting the reality, and maintaining it up to date is really painful.
What do you use to plan resources that work on multiple projects simultaneously?
Thanks in advance for sharing your tips and best practices! Saving Changes...
You may try Smartsheet Software, which gives you the possibility of visualizing a Schedule dashboard with the projects assigned to each resource. Another good option is Monday.com. Saving Changes...
Khai Ng.IT PMO | IT Project Manager| TTGROUPHanoi, Viet Nam
My answer is to use Microsoft Project to manage resources. Create your company resource pool (works and materials) with Microsoft Project then share your resource pool with as many projects as you want. That will help you to manage your company resource centrally. Saving Changes...
Aftab HussainEngineering Coordinator| Waterloo Engineering General Contracting LLCAl Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Our situation is different as we have a smaller team size (about 40 total with 6-7 leaders). Also, our leaders or experts only ever fully commit to one project. That is to say, they may be involved with other projects but that is not tracked. The other project is still the responsibility of the assigned leader to that project. Some points though:
Our planning is divided into two basic 'levels'. Site-Level, where the leaders or experts manage resources such as Unskilled/skilled workers and equipment more efficiently amongst themselves. Mangagement-Level, where the experts are allocated based on their competencies and availability.
We just use a simple excel sheet where the key competency required for each project is planned out for a period of time. Leaders are allocated based on their list of competencies and availability. This is revisited every other week unless there is an emergency.
There is always a danger of over-allocation or 'over-management' of resources. As such, we like to keep things fluid. That's why the plan sheet we try and avoid 'hard-coding' an individual to a project and we do not include the resources on the 'Site-Level'.
PM Planning tools such as Monday, Wrike etc but also more old-school like Primavera and MS Project have Resource allocation capabilities, that may be of help.
Always go with the simplest option. If the updating is a pain, revise the process to reduce the load while accomplishing the main goal. For instance, for us it was the move from Resource Allocation using MS Project to the previously mentioned Excel sheet.
Once again, the company size is really small to we can get away with some things larger companies may not be able to. But the essence is this: avoid complex software and solutions if things can be accomplished without.
If it is time-consuming for one person to keep the sheet updated, maybe make it public and let the experts keep them updated with some oversight.
If allocation is consistently falling short of need, consider external reasons. Like why is the client always delaying responses, or maybe more resources are required.
Often, allocation problems are a result of poor planning before the allocation of resources to Projects.
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1 reply by Marta Van den Bergh
Nov 30, 2020 7:15 AM
Marta Van den Bergh
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Hello Aftab, thank you for such an elaborate answer. This is very interesting, I have never thought to do it on 2 levels. It may improve our process, indeed!
Are you evaluating the workload of PMs assigned to multiple projects, or to the people performing the tasks? I've found that planning resources at the PM layer is somewhat different than for the people performing the detail level work in your WBS.
The number of people involved, skill sets, and the timeframes of how much they are involved in each project and when are quite different for the planners vs. the doers. Likewise the way you plan and manage the resources needs to consider whether you are managing the troops, or the lieutenants.
...
1 reply by Marta Van den Bergh
Nov 30, 2020 7:05 AM
Marta Van den Bergh
...
Hello Keith, this is very true, yes! We try to do the planning with the people that execute it so that we keep it as close to the reality as possible
Hi Marta,
I have very same situation some years ago when I led a small team of 10 people and some contractors to deliver and install sophisticated medical devices (MRI, CT,...) all over the country.
My sharing is in following:
1. Tools: I used Excel sheets or Project but always try to keep it simple otherwise the administration processes will take more time than the actual project work. It is really painful to update it day by day.
2. Strategy: Dividing your resource to smaller groups as in Aftab's comments is the main solution. You can divide them by subjects, main tasks, etc... whatever could fit and simplify your plan.
3. Improvement: I think the most important thing that you and your team should implement the process improvement continuously. Find the root causes in your workflows and solve them piece by piece. Some of my real examples:
- There is a season that 30-50% of our technical experts fly to our HQ for training in 3-6 weeks = Solution: We plan our schedule to focus our workforce in other time.
- We have to do many low valuable tasks that consume our high quality resource = Solution: Outsource them
- Some customers' responses are too late = Solution: Using contract terms to push and remind them otherwise some of their benefits i.e warranty will be cut off.
...
1 reply by Marta Van den Bergh
Nov 30, 2020 7:03 AM
Marta Van den Bergh
...
Hello Truong Minh Vu, thank you for taking time to respond! Your insights are very helpful. We indeed try to change it piece by piece...
Hi Marta,
I have very same situation some years ago when I led a small team of 10 people and some contractors to deliver and install sophisticated medical devices (MRI, CT,...) all over the country.
My sharing is in following:
1. Tools: I used Excel sheets or Project but always try to keep it simple otherwise the administration processes will take more time than the actual project work. It is really painful to update it day by day.
2. Strategy: Dividing your resource to smaller groups as in Aftab's comments is the main solution. You can divide them by subjects, main tasks, etc... whatever could fit and simplify your plan.
3. Improvement: I think the most important thing that you and your team should implement the process improvement continuously. Find the root causes in your workflows and solve them piece by piece. Some of my real examples:
- There is a season that 30-50% of our technical experts fly to our HQ for training in 3-6 weeks = Solution: We plan our schedule to focus our workforce in other time.
- We have to do many low valuable tasks that consume our high quality resource = Solution: Outsource them
- Some customers' responses are too late = Solution: Using contract terms to push and remind them otherwise some of their benefits i.e warranty will be cut off.
Hello Truong Minh Vu, thank you for taking time to respond! Your insights are very helpful. We indeed try to change it piece by piece... Saving Changes...
Are you evaluating the workload of PMs assigned to multiple projects, or to the people performing the tasks? I've found that planning resources at the PM layer is somewhat different than for the people performing the detail level work in your WBS.
The number of people involved, skill sets, and the timeframes of how much they are involved in each project and when are quite different for the planners vs. the doers. Likewise the way you plan and manage the resources needs to consider whether you are managing the troops, or the lieutenants.
Hello Keith, this is very true, yes! We try to do the planning with the people that execute it so that we keep it as close to the reality as possible Saving Changes...
Our situation is different as we have a smaller team size (about 40 total with 6-7 leaders). Also, our leaders or experts only ever fully commit to one project. That is to say, they may be involved with other projects but that is not tracked. The other project is still the responsibility of the assigned leader to that project. Some points though:
Our planning is divided into two basic 'levels'. Site-Level, where the leaders or experts manage resources such as Unskilled/skilled workers and equipment more efficiently amongst themselves. Mangagement-Level, where the experts are allocated based on their competencies and availability.
We just use a simple excel sheet where the key competency required for each project is planned out for a period of time. Leaders are allocated based on their list of competencies and availability. This is revisited every other week unless there is an emergency.
There is always a danger of over-allocation or 'over-management' of resources. As such, we like to keep things fluid. That's why the plan sheet we try and avoid 'hard-coding' an individual to a project and we do not include the resources on the 'Site-Level'.
PM Planning tools such as Monday, Wrike etc but also more old-school like Primavera and MS Project have Resource allocation capabilities, that may be of help.
Always go with the simplest option. If the updating is a pain, revise the process to reduce the load while accomplishing the main goal. For instance, for us it was the move from Resource Allocation using MS Project to the previously mentioned Excel sheet.
Once again, the company size is really small to we can get away with some things larger companies may not be able to. But the essence is this: avoid complex software and solutions if things can be accomplished without.
If it is time-consuming for one person to keep the sheet updated, maybe make it public and let the experts keep them updated with some oversight.
If allocation is consistently falling short of need, consider external reasons. Like why is the client always delaying responses, or maybe more resources are required.
Often, allocation problems are a result of poor planning before the allocation of resources to Projects.
Hello Aftab, thank you for such an elaborate answer. This is very interesting, I have never thought to do it on 2 levels. It may improve our process, indeed! Saving Changes...
