Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
We have a project holiday calendar, but it is very hard to keep it up to date. And frankly, I'm not sure exactly why I am keeping it up to date. If the staff don't work for me, I can't control when they take holiday. The best I can do is try to influence their manager.
Now the clocks have changed and we are about to hit the first big holiday of the year for us - Easter - how do you manage to keep on top of holiday time in your project team? Do you have the right to approve or decline holiday requests? How do you make sure the line managers keep you informed of when project team members will be off on leave? Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
Hi Imran, glad you liked my APM article! I hope they listened to you about putting your project on the backburner. Saving Changes...
Leam HallPM Apprentice| Smartronix/DoDPulaski, Va, United States
Our project teams are small, ad hoc, and we talk a lot. I know who has time off planned and the team knows that if they need a "mental health" day there's no problem taking off and going fishing or riding a motorcycle. We have good skills coverage and several of us can pick up where someone else needs help.
That includes me as the erstwhile PM. I've trained my replacements and keep the process fairly open so everyone else has access to what's going on.
So far making the "take time off" issue as easy as possible for the team members has opened the door for a heads up as soon as they start thinking about it. I track what I need to formally, they don't have to do anything except give me a shout however they feel comfortable. I also keep them informed when critical deadlines are so they can adjust or notify as early as possible. Saving Changes...
Philip HindPM II| P R Hind Consulting LtdRayleigh, Essex, United Kingdom
It's a bit of a long winded process at the current clients but here goes ...
You email the supervisor with a request.
Once the request has been authorised, you set up an appointment on the Calendar of the generic Holiday Outlook account ( you also enter it on your own outlook calendar).
Personally, I would prefer to use our SharePoint Calendar. Saving Changes...
Mary Grace LazoProject Manager| SMITS, Inc.Mandaluyong, Philippines
Ours is a mix of Hans and Imran's approach. For new resources, inform the HR with the keydates, for existing, emphasize the crucial tasks and dates, then if leaves/holidays for certain resource is irrevocable then I ensure that the equivalent skillset is provided.
It should always be a win-win situation between the resource and the project team. Saving Changes...
Massimo D'UlisseProject Manager Professional (PMI)| Brightstar 20:20 Mobile UKManchester, United Kingdom
Hi Elizabeth,
very good question indeed.
I work in nearly all projects with a virtual team, scattered around Europe and India, and coping with PTO and public holidays is not easy at all. In India, for instance, each state has its own public holidays and if you have staff from different offices in different states, then it is really a challenge.
So, in my idle time I created a MS Project template with the calendars of all countries in the organisation, added the public holidays of each country, and assigned each resource a calendar - thus now I have public holidays automatically factored into the schedule and resource allocation plan.
As for PTO, in the company I work for (matrix organisation), requests for PTO must be first approved by the PM. In my case, I tend to approve all the requests apart in cases where the vacation is on the critical path - in that case I try to negotiate with the person a different timing for his time off. In some cases I grant the approval on condition that the person completes his task according to the plan (kind of "carrot") - that's a great motivator for persons known for being not committed to the dates they themselves give.
If the person had requested and got approved the time off before the project, that should be known and tracked by the resource manager, thus the PM should be able to take that into account in the project plan when the resource is assigned to the project.
Saving Changes...
Brandy TowardIT Support Manager| NM Admin Office of the CourtsAlbuquerque, Nm, United States
We have a public calendar on our exchange server. Every time a leave request is submitted, the supervisor posts the approved leave on the public calendar. This allows us to see exactly who is/isn't or will/won't be in the office at a glance.
As far as approving leave, I can honestly say, I've never denied anyone's leave request. Saving Changes...
