Responsible and smart project managers understand that a new project should be approached with a lot of care, respect for the outcome and attention to detail. Careful and thorough researching needs to be carried out when resource planning in project management so the following can be answered:
- How do you push your team without causing burnout?
- How do you stay within the budget?
- How do you deliver on time?
It’s essential that a meticulous survey is done to see how the supplies can fulfill the demands of the project to ensure uninterrupted work for everyone involved. This way, you are guaranteed efficiency, productivity and a high rate of motivation from your team as well as trust from your customers and/or clients. Here are 10 tips for project managers.
What is the aim of resource planning in project management?
Whilst in the process of completing a project, your team could run into a number of issues. Some of them may include some, if not all, of the below:
The project scope gets out of hand. This is when requests and further actions required to complete the project begin to fan out and surpass the original scope.
- Running out of budget.
- Unpredictable staffing changes and shortages.
- Running out of time.
- Tasks are not monitored properly resulting in missed deadlines.
Project resource management aims to help you achieve the following:
- Increased efficiency
- Properly utilized resources
- Deliver the best output
- Create a template for future projects
- Improve job satisfaction and motivation
- Better employee retention
- Avoid overwork on all levels
- Build trust and better relationships with clients and/or customers
Meticulous resource management helps avoid these problems from occurring so you and your team can focus on the task at hand as well as the quality and outcome that’s expected of you by your clients or your customers.
10 Tips for Resource Planning
It always helps to kind of have a roadmap for doing things especially if you have not done the same thing before. Resource planning in project management can be daunting particularly after considering all the things that depend on the completed plan. Thankfully, one doesn’t have to go it alone. A good manager understands that they are no good on their own and go on to assemble a team of able and well-trained staff that will not only help in coming up with a sound plan but also actively put the plan to action until the project is complete. Here are the 10 tips for project managers.
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1. Set clear parameters
Errors and shortcomings mainly come from unmet expectations and miscommunication. Before hitting the ground running, so to speak, it”s important to identify a few of the essentials:
- Who you will be reporting to
- The scope of the project
- All the tasks arranged by priority
- Your team
- Projected timeline and deadline
Taking the time to identify these will help shape a cohesive plan that works for you and your team and resource project management. Take meeting notes and minutes every time you conduct a touchbase session with clients so no detail is left to chance. If you document meetings, make the file available for everyone in a shared drive so all your key players can start off on the same page.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask
If you know you can do it, if you believe in your team and understand what the project entails, don’t hesitate to ask for what and whom you need. Don’t be afraid to invite people to your team and ask for resources that you know you will need to complete the project successfully. Otherwise, you will have to start with a handicap and you will end up short-changing everyone involved. Don’t be shy about negotiating for more time, supplies or anything else that you expect your team to need when resource planning in project management. Keep the desired outcome of the project in mind so you can also visualize what it would take for you and your team to accomplish it.
3. Look to the past
Even though you’re new to the project, there’s a good chance that someone else in the company may have done something similar in the past. Dig into your archives and look for workflows, notes on resource allocation in project management and plans from previous projects that you can use as a template for yours. Update things as you go along and modify them to fit your needs. Doing this will not only save your time but give you a certain amount of peace of mind as well.
The fact that someone else has done the same (or close to the same) project so you have your own resource, if necessary, can be very helpful chiefly when you have concerns about how to manage resources across multiple projects.
4. Plan for failure
It sounds like a misnomer but, sometimes, to succeed, you need to make room for some failures. Things will not always go perfectly to plan, no matter how hard you try. Challenges and obstacles will spring up that will defy you to come up with solutions on the fly and you have to be able to do that on your toes. A clever project manager will always have a contingency plan for everything.
Experience will teach you that if one thing goes wrong, everything else will and most of the time, something does go wrong. You need to plan for these unfortunate events in project resource management so you won’t be caught by surprise just in case.
5. Don’t set it in stone
As with failures and challenges, you also have to make room in your resource planning in project management for changes - changes in your client’s requirements, your staffing, budget or something else. A lot of things can change for you and your project in a day or a week. Doing this just shows that you have realistic expectations of how your project can go. In doing so, you will ensure that the flow of work is not interrupted.
You can go through changes in your resources without anyone else feeling or knowing anything. Seamless transitions are a hallmark of a good project manager.
6. Track progress and act as needed
Being able to see where you are in terms of your tasks and projects can mean a world of difference in being able to deliver on time and on budget. Use agile project management tools like Gantt charts and Kanban boards in keeping a close eye on the amount of work that gets done. Include monitoring and managing workloads in resource allocation in project management.
Tracking your progress not only lets you oversee productivity, but also allows you to catch moments of triumph, no matter the size. This gives you the opportunity to celebrate these wins with your team. Doing so will further enrich teamwork, inspire better performance and increase motivation. You’ll likewise be able to spot those who are lagging behind in their tasks so you can coach them and mentor them to deliver better.
7. Check in with your team regularly
Wherever you are or no matter how scattered your team may be, make it a point to check in with them just to check on how they’re doing professionally, even emotionally and mentally. A responsible manager is concerned not only with the quality and timeliness of work but the wellbeing of team members as well. These meetings should be done regularly with both team members and clients alike to consistently brief them on the progress of the project.
These check-ins do not have to be extensive meetings. They can be short huddles that can be done in a matter of minutes. And you don’t have to talk about business all the time. It’s only important to stay connected with your team and clients and communicate with them. It also helps to make everyone else feel that they can always reach out to you if they need to.
8. Take up resource planning tools
It’s not a point against your abilities as a manager should you choose to use tools in the workplace and include them in resource planning in project management. There are a lot of software and online tools that you can utilize to make the work flow more easily and the job of managing a team a little less stressful. Bitrix24 offers such tools and more at no additional cost.
You can enjoy functional and reliable software to help with for tasks and project management, communications, and even customer relations and human resources. They are all easy to use, convenient and extremely helpful to have to hand.
9. Check and recheck
It can be very embarrassing when you present the completed project only to find that it’s filled with errors. Most of the time, though, our eyes can play tricks on us. When the work is very familiar, mistakes are disguised and left unnoticed. This results in more time wasted on redundant work that should have been done correctly the first time. Create a quality check hierarchy, if you will, and include it in resource planning in project management.
Assign team leaders who will go over any finished tasks to catch mistakes and correct them in time. You, being the project manager will be the last stop before the completed project is presented to clients and other higher-ups.
10. Debrief, learn and store
Once a project is successfully completed and delivered, get your team together for one final meeting. Celebrate the milestone with every person who counts and matters to the project. Recognizing people’s contributions, efforts and exceptional output will not only make them feel good about the work they’ve done. This will also motivate them, create loyal employees and set them up for further success down the line.
After the celebrations, collect their thoughts, what they learned and what they will do differently. Share your insights as well and keep everything documented and compiled to compose a set of steps for how to manage resources across multiple projects, creating a fresh template for other project managers to use in the future. Keep all of the pertinent files in your company drive for easy access.
Final thoughts on resource planning in project management
Being a project manager is never easy because you have to deal with a lot of different things and people at the same time. Thankfully, the same things and people can get your project from the starting point to completion. With a lot of forethought and clever resource planning in project management, all you really need are tools and you’re golden.
With a sound and solid resource plan, you can breeze through your tasks until the entire project is complete. Add to the mix the right team of people, efficient tools, and constant communication; you can expect impressive results and a project well done.
FAQ
What is resource management and why is it important?
Resource planning in project management is the manner of delegating tasks to members of your team to make sure every one of them is fully utilized and productivity is maximized. The initial stage is also where resource allocation in project management is done systematically and this involves more than the workforce or tasks. This includes taking into account your hardware and software as part of your supplies as well as tasks and project management and monitoring, allocating work hours and tracking output and activity until you meet your deadline or complete the project.
What are examples of resource management?
Since resources may be a stock or supply of people and things, there are many forms of resource management. Some of the more popular – although most people might not know them to be types of resource management – include:
- Human Resources – Managing talents, which include hiring, onboarding and training as well as performance management, compensation and benefits and payroll.
- Financial management – The process of overseeing a company’s assets and liabilities.
- Facility management – Managing the maintenance, utilization and upkeep of an office building as well as the amenities, finishes and fixtures within.
- Inventory management – Actively monitoring, controlling and improving the outflow and replenishment of stocks and supplies.