This is a scenario where there is a team of 50 developers. They hold different technology knowledge and skill sets.
We work on various prototype projects (create new products) with various technologies using Agile/Scrum.
These developers are allocated to these projects based on their technology knowledge. Sometimes 1 developer works on 2-3 projects at the same time (difficult! but I am not getting to this point here).
Since these are prototype projects, the product backlog changes frequently which makes it hard to foresee the workload of developers in a certain period of time, not to mention the fact that some of them work on 2-3 projects parallely.
Questions: what is a good way that one ultilizes the resources and foresees developers's availability to carry on new projects? Saving Changes...
Vladimir LiberzonR&D Director| Spider Project TeamMoscow, Russian Federation
This is typical portfolio management task.
I will describe how the planning is done using Spider Project software.
Create resource (developers) skills required in your projects and lists of resources that have each skill.
Create project schedules assigning to activities not individual resources but resource skills. Activity duration can be different if done by different resources. In this case enter activity volumes of work as typical (expected) work hours and resource productivities. Advanced developers can have productivity higher than 1, junior developers - lower than 1. Activity duration will be calculated when concrete resources will be selected and assigned.
If there are certain preferences assign resource priorities for selecting who will do what.
Consolidate your projects into the project portfolio.
Add dependencies between activities of different projects if they exist.
Set project priorities and add target dates of separate projects.
Run portfolio resource leveling.
The software will select who will do what and when taking into account resource availability, resource skills, resource productivity, resource costs, project and activity priorities and target dates. Portfolio schedule will be optimized.
Reports will show who must do what and when at each project.
It is called skill scheduling and Spider Project users do it for 30 years.
I would recommend to consider uncertainties and simulate project risks, but this is the next level. Saving Changes...
Vijay SuryavanshiProject Manager - Engineering| RECARO Aircraft SeatingPlantation, Fl, United States
You having 50 developers indicates your capacity. they may have various skill level. (A skill matrix may help to see where each one is standing terms of experience, seniority and different software's known with expertise classified as expert, intermediate and beginner.). Capacity planning is more long term, you look at the year and available resources and plan to see which projects can be prioritized. Where are as resource planning or allocation is more medium term or short term. But given that you are in software industry where requirements keep changing, using Agile makes sense and it looks like you are following agile. Resource quality plays a significant role in an agile project environment. One cannot make optimal use of a critical resource by assigning work beneath or above a person’s capability.
One also needs visibility into all the resources – available or not – and their costs. Only then can one balance people, technology, knowledge, time, and budget to deliver on-time and goal. This needs to be analyzed before creating WBS (Work Breakdown Structure).
Here are some of the salient features of resource management software to manage Agile projects.
Resource management for Agile framework.
Resource or Workforce Scheduling
Resource scheduling involves identifying and allocating resources for a specific period to different project tasks. With a centralized Gantt chart view of the enterprise, resource scheduling eliminates silos of spreadsheets. It also facilitates you to deploy “best-available-best-fit” resource as opposed to the “first-available-first-fit” resource. Most of the agile projects operate with small team size. Unless the right resource is deployed for the right task, the product backlog will be adversely impacted.
Resource Utilization
A resource is effective if he is working on a billable or strategic project and fully utilized as per his capacity. The efficiency of an organization can be determined by the cumulative utilization of all its employees. Resource Managers can proactively mobilize resources from non-billable to billable/ strategic tasks and maximize their billable utilization. It is crucial to ensure that minimum time is spent on mundane tasks such as attending meetings for the scrum team members.
Capacity Vs. Demand, Forecast shortfall or Excesses of Resources Resource capacity is the total number of standard hours an individual is available to work as per the employer’s arrangement. Resource demand is the process of understanding the number of resources required to meet the demand for various types of work. Capacity vs. Demand is the process of forecasting shortages or excesses of resources by analyzing the gaps between resources’ capacity against the demand for resources.
It is a shortage of resources when the demand is higher than the capacity or supply of resources. Conversely, it is an excess of resources when the demand is lower than the capacity or supply of resources. Saving Changes...
