In today’s environment, accelerated more so with the impact of COVID-19, organisations are under increasing pressure to deliver innovative, technologically advanced products and services with diminished budgets. As a result, resources must be fully utilised and focused on the highest priorities at any given time. Whilst resources can refer to various types of assets, for the purpose of this article we are discussing the most important asset in most organisations, people. And whilst we at Aspira are certainly people focused at our core, we appreciate not just the business benefit but ultimately the personal benefit of sound Resource Management Best Practices.
Good resource management is key to ensuring that your resources are working on projects or products that are aligned to strategic corporate goals, that match their skill sets and where they have adequate bandwidth to perform to the optimal. Easier said than done I hear you say!
Another important aspect of resource management is the various traditional, hybrid and iterative methodologies utilised by teams that may or may not be co-located. Given the various methodologies utilised to approaching work, it should make sense that resource management approaches can also vary. Regardless of the approach however, there are three capabilities every resource management approach should include:
- Capacity v Demand View:
Optimise resource utilisation by prioritising high-value work with available resource capacity. - Resource Utilisation:
Ensure that the right resources are available to support strategic goals - Progress and Time Tracking:
Ensure that progress can be tracked, which can be especially valuable when using time tracking
Using an effective resource management system & approach that delivers these capabilities will enable your organisation to realise the following benefits:
- Determine true resource availability.
- Spot problems earlier in the process.
- A realistic view of both demand and capacity to deliver.
- Put the right resources on the right work at the right time.
- Understand what roles and/or skill sets to hire to fulfill stakeholder commitments.
- Increase and improve communication between project and resource managers and team members.
- Manage and prioritise work requests and set appropriate expectations with key stakeholders.
- Provide objective methods to prioritising work ensuring demand is balanced against the capacity to deliver.
- Deliver programs that drive innovation and transformational change.
- Connect strategy to execution.
Organisations are under increasing pressure to drive innovation and transformation, given the reality of ongoing resource and financial constraints.
The capabilities and benefits suggested within will allow a greater balance between resource capacity and demand, enhance people’s work experience and drive bottom-line efficiencies.
If you would like to discuss your resourcing requirements for 2022 in more detail, please get in touch with our team of subject matter experts today.
Thomas McGrath - Head of Business Consulting
Thomas McGrath is the Head of Business Consulting with Aspira and comes from a broad background of Business & Technical Transformation, Project & Programme Delivery and Change Management Consultancy. Thomas helps our clients fulfil their business needs in partnership at strategic and operational levels. To achieve this, Thomas and his team gain an independent and innovative overview of businesses in order to identify areas of improvement or development.