Many small businesses struggle with resource allocation and over-allocation of resources. After all, it’s difficult to plan a lean and Agile operation with precision.  When it comes to fleshware it’s crucial to be familiar with the skillset, expertise and capacity of the team. But how to determine where to efficiently allocate your scarce resources?

 

What is resource allocation in project management?

Resource allocation means scheduling and assigning people and tools for project tasks. It requires a nuanced understanding of the capacities of both individuals and equipment. Over-allocation stretches the existing human resoruces can lead to project delays and team member burnout. 

Project managers that over-allocate resources risk that output quality will suffer and deadlines won’t be met..

 

Why is it bad to over-allocate your resources?

 Over-allocation causes serious problems that can prove fatal to good quality software development projects. Team members and employees who feel constant stress think less clearly, make more mistakes and disengage from work.  Eventually, these team members will leave rather than remain in a constant state of stress – and staff attrition should concern every project manager. It’s much easier to allocate properly than to have to re-train new hires.

Read more on Methods to reduce the stress of completing a project

A long-term overallocation of human resources will lead to loss of business. Clients are not blind to projects going off the rails. 

Over-allocation of resources – side effects

• Mistakes

Employees who work beyond their capacity will make errors. They won’t have time to check their work or test properly.

Read more on how Human resource capacity planning works.

• Missed deadlines

When teams feel pressure to deliver on overly ambitious timelines, they will likely fail. Missed deadlines upset the clients and lower team morale.

• Employee disengagement

If the team feels like they face an uphill battle they will start to disengage. Unreachable targets cause employee apathy.

• Lack of ownership

Tired and overworked employees will not feel that the project matters or belongs to them. Their stress and unhappiness will harm their work output.

• Work-life balance issues

Teams that put in excessive hours will begin to feel resentful and tired. They will not perform their tasks up to the best standards.

• Employee Burnout

The above items lead to employee burnout. Stressed-out team members will have more health troubles and sick days. They will not perform their jobs with the same productivity as before.

• Staff Attrition

Finally, overworked, burned-out employees will start to look for opportunities elsewhere. Training up new workers saps valuable time and resources.

• Loss of Clients and revenue

Over-allocation will snowball. Clients will notice that their deliverables do not arrive on time or as promised. They will notice the errors and bugs. Finally, they will take their business elsewhere.

 

How to allocate your resources correctly and prevent over-allocation?

How can project managers make sure they distribute work properly and keep their teams productive and happy? We have several techniques available to ensure that we allocate resources in the best way possible.

1. Schedule resources on a weekly basis

First, managers should plan out what resources they have available for the upcoming project. This planning begins with listing team members and their areas of expertise. Managers also need to note what other projects the team members have ongoing. Responsible managers use specialized tools to visualize and plan out their resources over shorter time periods, ideally weekwise. Visualizing in this way gives them a high-level overview, while they can also drill down and view more granular data. When resources are planned and re-evaluated on a weekly basis, managers can spot and resolve potential overallocation (or under allocation) issues before it turns into a serious drawback.

2. Set and recheck priorities

To avoid over-allocating and over-extending, managers should recheck and recalibrate their project priorities. They should plan out the steps of a project and make sure critical tasks come first. During a project, managers need to make sure that the right tasks get moved to the front of the queue. (This happens during backlog grooming meetings in Agile teams).

Find out on How does resource scheduling tie to project priority.

3. Stop scope creep

Managers should keep the project on target. They should record client requests for new features or changes and add these to the backlog for future iterations. New requirements pushed into a project lead to over-allocation of resources. Managers should keep focus on the initial goals.

Related article: How project managers can manage resources to avoid scope creep’s negative consequences?

4. Add staff if necessary

Managers should always consider the nuclear option of adding new staff if the project needs more resources. Rather than overburdening the existing team, they should meet deadlines by evaluating how well the team tackles their work and add resources if needed.

5. Choose a powerful resource allocation tool

The right resource allocation management tool makes all the difference. Weekwise helps managers and their teams see at a glance what resources they have available. Team members and their capacity appear in an easy-to-use dashboard. The dashboard lists projects and hours worked. Weekwise’s dashboard also shows local public holidays and vacation time. Project managers see who has time and who might need some help to complete their project. Weekwise also offers timesheets and invoicing and allows managers to see their projects in week-long blocks. Then they can delegate, plan and schedule projects with a clear vision of the resources at their disposal. 

Weekwise helps software development companies examine their workflow and resources.
With Weekwise project managers see at a glance each team member’s capacity and availability.

Project resource planning is a breeze with an intuitive and simple dashboard like Weekwise.