Welcome back readers and fellow project managers! Hope you all are doing well. The next article focuses on better management of the workload of resources on your team. Hope you all find this helpful!
Whether you have 2 resources on a project or 100+ resources on a project, it is critical manage the team’s workload to make sure that the project stays on course and that the project resources do not get burned out, while also staying utilized and making sure that the project is progressing as planned. Below, there are some techniques on how to manage the workload of the team and ensure that none of the team members get overloaded with tasks and deadlines.
1.Assign resources to work streams and have them “own” those areas.
When you assign project resources to specific work stream and have them “own” the area of work involved with that work stream, it enforces accountability and a sense of ownership to the project’s team members. This will allow them to focus on the set of tasks on hand that are required for that work stream to be successful, and will allow you as the project manager to focus on other aspects of project delivery.
“A project manager needs to make sure that his/her team is progressing on their set of tasks and don’t have any impediments crossing their path”
2. Make sure that resources are charging the hours they work on the project and various tasks.
It is super critical that all the resources who spend the time working on the project charge their time correctly. It’s not only the right way to track the level of effort required for a project, but also enables a better degree of transparency of the level of work that the team members are putting into the project. By being able to actively track the actual hours that resources charges, as a project manager you will be able to better assess how the team is operating based on the hours spent. If certain resources are over/under charging, it will open the opportunity for you to assess if those resources need additional help or can be assigned to help areas that require more support.
3. Develop buckets of time to see how much effort and time is required for an average resource within a specific area of work.
As a project manager, it is estimating the level of effort required to complete tasks is one of the most important aspects of managing projects. Something that can take 1 hour for an experienced resource to do can take 8 hours for a resource who has never done that type of activity. This is why its important to hire based on specific types of experience and be able to determine the level of effort and time commitment that will be required to complete he work. When a developer is creating an interface between two systems, it is important to understand the complexities of that interface, including the amount of data being sent to/from the two systems, how often the data is sent, does the data require any calculations, and any actions for the sending/receiving systems to take after sending/receiving the data. This is a very detail diagnosis of an interface, but this is provided to justify the above mentioned point. You can’t “guesstimate” hours required for a task or set of activities; its important to understand some level of detail of effort involved before reaching an estimate to the number of hours required.
4. Have regular check-ins with direct reports.
This is one of the key areas that differentiate a proactive project manager vs. a reactive project manager. Checking in with the team is almost half of the job of a project manager. A project manager needs to make sure that his/her team is progressing on their set of tasks and don’t have any impediments crossing their path. By having regular check-ins (the preference is towards bi-weekly), the project manager can have a regular pulse check on where the team members stand on their respective areas. This will also enable the project manager to proactively identify issues/risks that may be coming and will help the PM better prepare for an appropriate mitigation response.
5. Make sure direct reports are checking in with work stream team members.
If the project team is large enough, the project manager may not have the time/ability to check in with every single project team member. This is why it is recommended above to place team members into work streams so that everyone works within a specific area and has a clear set of tasks/deliverables that they are working on. Additionally, this will also enable the work stream lead to understand how the tasks are progressing within their specific work streams. It is equally important for the work stream leads to proactively have check-ins with their team members. Team members should be able to easily bring up workload concerns with the work stream leads. If the lead is aware that certain resources are over/under loaded, he/she can have that resource receive additional support or have them become a multi-functional resource who can provide support to another work stream that may require more help.
The goal of resource management should be to make sure that every project member on the team has a role that they are actively contributing to in terms of project delivery as well as assessing their work load. By proactively meeting with team members, project managers can have a better grasp of how the team is operating and be able to make decisions of whether they need to hire more resources or potentially release resources (if there is not enough work to go around).
Hope you find this post informational. What are the ways that you manage your resources’ workload today? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
Stay tuned for more exciting posts this week…Happy Project Management!