Project Management Course Resource allocation and utilization has a direct impac
ID: 468147 • Letter: P
Question
Project Management Course
Resource allocation and utilization has a direct impact on the project schedule and progress. In the current global economy, companies are trying to maximize the use of available resources; therefore, project managers will find themselves constantly competing for resources. On the other hand, resources are being assigned to multiple projects, making it harder for project managers to maximize resource utilizations. Over-extended resources will quickly experience burnout, causing the project deliverables and schedule to slip.
As a project manager, how would you ensure that you have the resources needed for your project?
How would you approach a functional manager to recruit the best resources for your project?
Explanation / Answer
How would you ensure that you have the resources needed for your project?
As a project manager, I would look at the scope document and see how big is the project and how many resources do we really need to have on board to support the project. I will check how many developer resources are required and how many of them are available to serve. In case, it is possible to utilize a single resources on multiple projects, I will go ahead and assign them with the number of hours to work and support the team. Same goes with the QA resources available, we can utilize a single resource on multiple projects, and if not we will independently assign a dedicated resource for QA purposes. The same can be communicated to the resources and checked, if they are ok to support and provide their insights on multiple projects or if the independent resources can serve their best and also support other projects in case the work on a particular project is on a hault. Proper planning and then assigning them to a dedicated source through a system to make sure that the resource works for the assigned project only can act as a big time help to support the project and could avoid hiccups in future.
How would you approach a functional manager to recruit the best resources for your project?
This is the most important task to be done and can only be made sure by communicating it clearly to the functional manager that what is required. The first step is to assess the skills and the responsibilities required for a particular project. For example, if you need a developer, you need to check and see what technical skills are required, if you need a Dot net/PHP/Java resource to work on a technology or any person from the database side to help with the back end operations, that too with specific database requirements of Oracle/MySql or else. Accordingly, the job description can be prepared and passed on to the functional manager to make sure that the right resource is being hired and there are no slippages in picking up the right resource. Same goes with QA resources, the skill assessment have to done and accordingly the job description should be prepared and reported to the functional manager, so that the right resource can be hired and assigned to the project. After creating correct job description, one should hire and interview the candidate fulfilling 80% of the criteria and the functional manager has to be sure of that. Apart from the functional manager, the project manager should also interview the candidate to make sure that he is rightly picked and placed on the project.
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