What is resource management? Your Guide to Getting Started • Asana (2023)

Ensuring your team doesn't feel overworked or underutilized is a challenge most leaders experience. In a world where organizations are fast-moving — and often virtual — employee workloads sometimes become an oversight.

Developing a resource management plan gives you ongoing visibility into your team's workload. It allows you to effectively balance all your resources and see a complete picture of how your team will achieve their goals.

What is resource management?

Resource management is the process of planning and scheduling your team's resources and activities. A resource can include anything from equipment and funds to technical tools and staff bandwidth—basically anything that helps you complete a project.

When deciding how to manage or allocate your team's resources, consider a few questions:

1. What is the availability of the individual resources?

2. What are the schedules for each activity?

3. How many resources are required to complete each activity?

4. Who is the best person to do the activity effectively?

Create a resource management template

What is a resource management plan?

A resource management plan can help you manage and allocate any type of resource you may need for your project. An effective plan outlines the specific resources (including human resources, financial resources, technical resources, and physical resources) and activities required over the course of a project or initiative.

Your plan will guide you, the de facto project manager or project admin, by providing a holistic view of all the moving parts of a project: budget, staffing and workload requirements, tech stack constraints — you name it.

You can easily manage, schedule, and allocate any resource while maximizing resource availability. Learning how to manage resources will enable you (and your team) to complete projects effectively.

Why creating a resource management plan is important

Often we don't realize that our team members are drowning in projects until it's too late. But it doesn't have to be that way. With resource management, you can ensure your team members are comfortable with the amount of work on their plate and equipped with the tools they need to tackle each task.

When resource management is done right, you empower your team to produce work sustainably and with higher quality. Better yet, when your team knows they're capable of doing their best work, they'll be happy at the end of the day.

Should I create a resource management plan for my project?

The short answer: yes. Resource management in project management is not just a nice-to-have. It's a must-have to support your team and prevent burnout. The benefits of resource planning far outweigh the time involved.

The number of projects your team can handle and the quality of each depends on it. As a project manager, resource management is your chanceoptimize efficiency,prevent overhaul, AndEffectively manage your team's workload.

Benefits of resource management

If you're not yet convinced that resource management is critical to your team's success, let's dig a little deeper. Check out these benefits you won't want to miss:

1. See the whole picture

Nurturing a resource management plan from a central source of truth gives you an inside look. Knowing what your team is working on is the best way to allocate resources to new projects that crop up. You can make changes to your resource management planprevent overhauland maximize your team's efficiency.

This high-level overview will help you connect the dots from the resource to the individual taskproject timelineand decide whether a person's workload is too heavy or too light. This is your opportunity to anticipate potential problems.

2. Distribute the work appropriately

You probably know the strengths and weaknesses of each of your team members. When allocating resources, it's important to remember who will be most successful in each task or activity.

Talk to your team regularly and let them be part of the decision-making process - they will feel empowered from the start. Make sure you're using your time effectively by monitoring who's overloaded with other projects and who has extra bandwidth.

3. Keep your team informed

Transparency to your team ensures no one is left in the dark. This is important because when everyone knows who is doing what by when, confusion is reduced and team members have clarity about their responsibilities. They can see how their part of the project fits into the overall team or company vision. And when a team works well together, projects automatically run smoother - and are more fun to work on!

4. Set realistic goals

Project resource management gives you the ability to determine what you can realistically get done by when. Once you've explained everything in detail, including all the resources you need, you can locate any dependencies and make adjustments as needed.

Sometimes that meansresource levelingYour team: Adjusting due dates and priorities to a more reasonable deadline. While no one likes missing deadlines, proactive resource leveling can prevent your team from missing a deadline altogether.

5. Improve future planning

If you know what each of your direct reports is working on and allocate available resources based on that knowledge, you'll get better at it over time.

Familiarizing yourself with the resource management process will help you better assess and forecast upcoming bandwidth. This can also help you plead for more budget or people.

5 steps to create a resource management plan

You can create a resource management plan in any tool—in theory, you could even use a spreadsheet to get insight into resource usage and availability.

The best resource management tool is one that acts as a single source of truth for your team. With Asana for resource management, you have easy visibility into what everyone on your team is working on, what resources are available, and how to prevent team burnout.

Create a resource management template

1. Define the project goals

In order to optimally allocate your team's resources, you need to know themProject Goals and Goals. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is it a simple service or a more complex campaign?

• What metrics are used to measure the success of the project?

Gaining clarity about what each project entails makes it easier to see what resources you need and how to allocate them.

2. Alignment with project scope

What is thescope of the project? If possible, meetProject Stakeholderto determine how much time and resources you should devote to this initiative. That gives you the best feel for theProject planand help you decide which resources are best suited for the job.

At this stage of the process, it can be helpful to practice resource smoothing — which means making sure you're not running out of resources throughout the project scope and timeline.

3. Identify the types of resources you need

Get detailed information about your project requirements so you can identify the right resources. As mentioned earlier, resources in your resource management plan can include:

• team gear

• Software

• Budget

• range of employees

Part of creating a resource management plan is determining what types of resources you need so you can then determine what resources are available to you.

4. Identify available resources

This is the meat and potatoes of resource management. At this stage, you should determine who will be staffed for this project. Depending on the scope of the project, you may need to prioritize other tasks at the resource level and down to avoid overburdening your team.

But as we've learned, employee bandwidth isn't the only resource you're managing. The same diligence is required with your other resources: find out if the software you're currently using is up to date and working for the project your team needs to complete. If not, do you have enough budget to upgrade to a better one?

Review each resource you need that you identified earlier and see what you already have on hand to set your team up for success.

5. Check the project progress

To be a great resource manager, you should check in with your team regularly throughout the project lifecycle. How are you doing? Do they feel overworked or, on the contrary, is the project overstaffed? Making it clear that you support them and, most importantly, understand what they have on their plate is a great way to provide ongoing support to your team.

10 best practices for resource management

You are on the way to creating a resource management plan. But do you want to become a resource management master? Whether you aprogram manager or a projectTeam leaders, try these 10 tips to get started.

1. Measure resources realistically

Know how much time each employee needs to complete tasks so you don't run into rescheduling issues later. Find out if you can provide the right software and equipment your team needs to successfully complete the project. Talk to your team to inquire about their needs and review completed project reports to see what type of resources other teams have used.

2. Set start and end date

Set start and end dates to give you a realistic time frame for how long each task will take. By making sure you set realistic expectations, you can provide an accurate timeline for the entire project.

3. Know the skills of your employees

Understanding who is great at what helps determine the best resource for each task. If you don't already know, ask your team members about their strengths. If someone is good at organizing, let them manage project schedules. If someone is highly technical, assign them to the more technical tasks—team members working on tasks they can adapt to will not only get the job done faster, they'll feel better doing it.

4. Prioritize work

Set clear project goals and communicate them with your team. These goals should be transparent and accessible so your teammates can review them as the project progresses. With these goals in mind, it will be much easier for your team to prioritize their work and move the project forward. In short: build your timeline around yourstasks with the highest priorityand determine what resources will take you there.

5. Help your team increase usage rate

usage rateis the time your project team spends on actionable, strategic, or billable work. On average, employees spend60% of their timeabout work about work, like getting approvals or searching for documents.Reducing work over workis the best way to empower your team to do their job optimally and increase utilization rate.

6. Adjust efficiency as you walk

Project management is generally a continuous effort. Tasks and schedules are subject to change as challenges arise. Don't be afraid to move resources around as neededbe as efficient as possible.

7. Keep some time slots open

While resource management planning is critical from the start, you can't plan for everything. Keep time slots free for new work and be flexible.

8. Choose the resource management style that suits your team

You know your team better than anyone. Use your knowledge to determine the best resourceManagementmethodik, e.g. B. Workload by hours, points or number of tasks.

9. Sign in to your team

Make sure you have a real-time pulse of your team's workload and that each team member feels their workload is fair and achievable. This can help you with future planning and improve resource allocation.

10. Link your resource management plan to your operations plan

operational planningis the process of creating a detailed overview of what actions your team will take on a weekly or sometimes even daily basis. Build your resource management plan into your operations plan to effectively manage your team's time.

Advising four team leaders on resource management

What's better than reading a guide to allocating resources in project management? How about hearing from four team leaders with different backgrounds and challenges who dive into practice every day? Read on as they consider how to tackle a resource management plan and provide real examples. Meet Jenny, Ariel, Eric and Reigan.

What is your biggest resource management challenge and what is your solution?

A major challenge I face with resource management is getting a comprehensive view of my team's workload. I have to look closely at every project that comes into the pipeline.

I approach this by first looking at the roadmap of upcoming product launches and campaigns, and then figuring out staffing needs at the project level versus individual deliverables. I manage everything in onework management toolwhere i have onePortfolioof all the projects my team works on each quarter. For smaller copy projects or ad hoc work, I have set up a process in the same work management tool for people to request copy assistance. Now I can easily manage new incoming requests and identify the requirements, deadlines and priorities.

When it comes to staffing projects or allocating resources, it's both an art and a science. I try to ensure that an individual's available range matches the assigned scope of work, and I also consider assigning projects that align with individual skills and career goals.

What are your top three tips for creating and maintaining a resource management plan?

1. Be proactive to find out what projects are in the pipeline. Most of my team's projects are started by other teams, so it's important to reach out to cross-functional partners and get a holistic view of the work ahead.

2. Make sure each team member has at least one major project (e.g., a marketing campaign) on their schedule, and round out their workload with weekly and daily tasks. This minimizes context switching while adding variety.

Check in with your team regularly so you know each person's range and can make adjustments over time. When something unexpected happenskeep lines of communication opento ensure your resource plans stay on track.

What is your biggest resource management challenge and what is your solution?

The biggest challenge I face with resource management is having an accurate view of what my team is working on, our bandwidth, and the status of projects. There is a lot of nuance involved with this as each individual performer has their own pace and strengths. I have to figure out who is the best fit for each project.

It is important to constantly improve communication with team members. I make sure everyone is on the same page by having regular check-ins, stand-up meetings, and face-to-face discussions. I also try to get a general overview of everyone's duties so I can approach conversations better. By buildingproject schedulesfor the production process of the team I get a clear overview of who is responsible and what the next steps are.

What are your top three tips for creating and maintaining a resource management plan?

1. Get cross-functional stakeholder input on your workback schedule. This allows you to ensure your team is aligned and set realistic expectations and timelines upfront.

2. Track the progress in your work management tool (especially yourtimeline). See what work is being delegated to your team members and use your timeline to see if you can help with roadblocks.

Understand how your team is using yourwork management tool. Some team members may look at the big picture while others focus on looking at a task. Adapt your working style to the way your team works.

What is your biggest resource management challenge and what is your solution?

One challenge is that my team works in parallel. I have to ask myself: “How can IMaximize value with my engineering team?” I have to focus on achieving a balance based on our goals and the risk of the work.

I have team meetings and use the time to lay out everyone's work together in a list. The list helps us see what we're doing over the next few weeks and understand how team members feel about the work. Then we take what we've learned and apply it in our work management tool. It is important to us that everything is clearly documented in one place.

Everything is tracked in our work management tool, including absence notifications. We can always see what resources will be available. This gives me the opportunity to approach the timing strategically. We avoid starting a large project just before the weekend or when several people are out of the office.

What are your top three tips for creating and maintaining a resource management plan?

1. If you have a project or task that is risky, write it down immediately. By keeping such notes, you protect yourself and avoid worst-case scenarios or risks.

2. Be flexible. Don't think of your plan as a one-time task that you can just check off your list. Always learn, reschedule, and recalibrate; Fine-tune your resource management plan as you go.

3. Make team thinking a collaborative activity. Everyone on your team should be encouraged to share their opinions, make recommendations, and let others know when their bandwidth is running low. Resource management is not the job of a single person; it is a group work.

What is your biggest resource management challenge and what is your solution?

A major challenge I face with resource management is clearly understanding a request and knowing who on my team is best suited to take on the work given their current range. I often ask myself, "Who is best equipped and best informed to take on this particular request?"

I have my team determine their top five priorities each month so I can assess their bandwidth. It's about finding out which projects make the most sense for each person. For example, a project that incorporates an existing initiative might be more appropriate for a new employee, while a more complex project might make more sense for a tenured employee.

Recently I created a project in my work management tool that gave me aeditorial calendarView. I can see all the email campaigns my team is working on and get a quick overview of when one is going out and who is responsible for it.

What are your top three tips for creating and maintaining a resource management plan?

1. Optimize your work process. It can be overwhelming when multiple requests are thrown at your plate. Try to simplify your process by using digital processesto form, especially when integrated with your work management system.

2. Meet weekly with your team. Understand how your team members feel about their current bandwidth and get a clear understanding of how much workload they are comfortable with.

3. manage priorities. Look at your team's top five monthly priorities to see what type of work each person is focused on. Monitor your team's priorities weekly to see if anything has changed and reprioritize as necessary.

Are you ready to create a resource management plan?

Resource management should always be a part of your wholeProject work plan. While it may seem overwhelming at first, allocating the right resources at the right time will make things much easier down the road. Take it step by step and commit to using a work management tool. Your team will thank you!