8. Resourcing Projects

8/8/2019 8. Resourcing Projects

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Resourcing Projects

PROJECT MANAGEMENT


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THE RESOURCE PROBLEM

Resources and Priorities

Project network times are not a schedule until resources havebeen assigned.

The implicit assumption is that resources will be availablein the required amounts when needed.

Adding new projects requires making realistic judgmentsof resource availability and project durations.


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SCHEDULING CONSTRAINTS

Technical or Logic Constraints

Constraints related to the networked sequence in whichproject activities must occur.

Physical ConstraintsActivities that cannot occur in parallel or are affected bycontractual or environmental conditions.

Resource Constraints

The absence, shortage, or unique interrelationship andinteraction characteristics of resources that require aparticular sequencing of project activities.


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PROJECT MANAGER RESOURCINGREQUIREMENTS

Technical skills necessary to:

estimate resource demands

create a staffing management plan

assign one or more persons to each activity

identify when a person is assigned too much work at a point intime

schedule a project with limited numbers of key people andother resources

compress (speed up) a project schedule.


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PROJECT MANAGER RESOURCINGREQUIREMENTS

B ehavioral skills necessary to:

Select the right people

Identify exactly what each needs to accomplish

Ensure performance capabilityDeal with difficult individual work schedules

Schedule overtime when there are conflicts

Estimate the amount of work required to complete an activity

Assemble an effective team

Deal with people from diverse backgrounds

Decide where each person will work

Establish effective virtual relationship


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K EY RESOURCING CONSIDERATIONS

H elp key people develop necessary skills.

Consider project tradeoffs and precedences - time vs.human resources vs. other costs vs. scope.

Understand resource limitations to prevent overpromising.

Keep in mind that people are often a very large portionof total project cost.


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K EY RESOURCING CONSIDERATIONS

actors to Consider in Assigning Work:

Don t always pick the same people for the toughestassignments.

Choose people with an eye to fostering their developmentthrough participation on the project.

Pick people with compatible work habits and personalities butwho complement each other.

Team-up veterans with new hires to share experience andsocialize newcomers into the organization.

Select people who may need to learn work together on laterstages of the project or other projects.


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ESTIMATE RESOURCE NEEDS

H ow many resources of each type and skill orknowledge level are needed.

Consider support needs such as information systemsand human resources

Consider constraints placed upon how people are hired,scheduled, and released

Activity resource estimating the process of estimating the types and quantities of resourcesrequired to perform each scheduled activity. PMBOKGuide


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CREATE A STAFFING MANAGEMENTPLAN

H ow to identify potential internal and/or externalhuman resources for the project

Determination of availability of human resources

Determine how to handle timing issues with regard tobuilding up, developing, rewarding and releasing theproject team.

Staffing management plan the document thatdescribes when and how human resource requirementswill be met. PMBOK Guide


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IDENTIFY POTENTIAL RESOURCES

N ecessary information (work functions, professionaldiscipline, skill level, physical location,organizational/administrative unit)

Compare available people to estimated resource needs

Identify gaps in specific skills

Identify gaps in numbers of people available vs peopleneeded

Continue identification of potential resources until anadequate number and mix of people are identified

Identify the core team for participation in charteringthe project


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DETERMINE RESOURCE AVAILABILITY

Identify availability of people

Secure commitment

Full and part time resources

Internal vs external resources


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RACI CHART

A responsibility matrix

RACI Responsible, Approve, Consult, Inform

Only one person should have primary responsibility for

any activityUse to assign activities to project core team members,subject matter experts, and the project manager

Useful in managing project communications

Identify every project activity and exact involvement of each stakeholder


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RACI CHART


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RESOURCE ASSIGNMENTS

Person responsible for each activity is listed next to theactivity in the Gantt Chart Schedule


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DEALING WITH RESOURCE OVERLOADS

Identify which activities are involved

Compare resource histogram to the Gantt ChartSchedule

Project scheduling software pinpoints when overloadsoccur for each worker

Management decisions required to solve the problem


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Assign certain activities to other workers

Split an activity into two activities

Perform 1st part as scheduled

Delay 2nd part of activity

Reorder the activities

Acquire or borrow additional resources

Reduce project scope or extend project scheduleInform the sponsor of severe overloads


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RESOURCE LEVELING

Most common form delay activities so the persondoesn t perform as many activities at the same time

Delay non-critical activities by an amount no more thantheir slack

Allow the project to slip reduces peak demand andsmoothes the period to period resource usage

Resource Leveling any form of schedule network

analysis in which scheduling decisions are driven byresource constraints. PMBOK Guide


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RESOURCE LEVELING

If non-critical activities must be completed at the rateof effort in the original schedule, reassign activities toanother worker

Resource leveling is a combination of art and science


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RESOURCE LEVELING


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RESOURCE-CONSTRAINEDPROJECTS

Projects that involve resources that are limited inquantity or by their availability.

Scheduling of activities requires the use of heuristics(rules-of-thumb) that focus on:

1. Minimum slack

2. Smallest (least) duration

3. Lowest activity identification number


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RESOURCE-CONSTRAINEDPROBLEM


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TRADITIONAL CRITICAL PATH SCHEDULINGPROBLEMS

People make conservative duration estimates

There is a great deal of variation in durations of someactivities

Project workers tend to use all of the time available tothem

Workers are asked to multi-task to keep multipleprojects moving

Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) addressesthese problems


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CRITICAL CHAIN PROJECT MANAGEMENT(CCPM)

AKA critical chain method

Incorporates calculations on resource availability intopredecessor-successor relationships

The resource most in demand is identified

Efforts are made to keep that resource appropriatelybusy on critical chain activities

Critical chain method a schedule network analysistechnique that modifies the project schedule toaccount for limited resources. The critical chainmethod mixes deterministic and probabilisticapproaches to schedule network analysis. PMBOK Guide


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CCPM COMPONENTS

Avoid multi-tasking

Estimate how quickly each activity can be completed

Put a feeding buffer of time directly in front of critical

chain activities to ensure they will not be delayed

Put the time normally reserved for the uncertainty ineach individual activity at the end of the project as atotal project buffer that the project manager can use as

needed, and

Finish activities early if possible and pass the work onto the next worker.


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COMPRESS THE PROJECT SCHEDULE

Customer requirements and contract commitments

Time-to-market pressures

Incentive contracts (bonuses for early completion)

Unforeseen delays

Overhead and goodwill costs

Pressure to move resources to other projects


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Reduce the project scope and/or quality

Shorten the duration of critical activities

Shorten activities that cost the least to speed up

Adding Resources

Outsourcing Project Work

Scheduling Overtime

Establishing a Core Project Team

Fast-Tracking


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Crashing may cost more money to speed up the schedule

Fast tracking may increase the risk to speed up theschedule

Crashing a specific type of project schedulecompression technique performed by taking action todecrease the total project duration after analyzing anumber of alternatives to determine how to get themaximum schedule duration for the least additionalcost. PMBOK Guide

Fast Tracking a specific project schedule compressiontechnique that changes network logic to performschedule activities in parallel. PMBOK Guide


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PROJECT COSTD URATION GRAPH


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Commonly Used Options for Cutting Costs

Reduce project scope

H ave owner take on more responsibility

Outsourcing project activities or even the entire project

B rainstorming cost savings options

WHAT IF COST, N OT TIME IS THE ISSUE?


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Managing Multi-project Scheduling

Create project offices or departments to oversee thescheduling of resources across projects.

Use a project priority queuing system: first come, first servedfor resources.

Centralize project management: treat all projects as a part of a megaproject.

Outsource projects to reduce the number of projects handledinternally.

MULTI- PROJECT RESOURCE SCHEDULES


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Q&A

Documents

8. Resourcing Projects