improve agility with your resource management strategy

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Improve Agility with Your Resource Management Strategy

Andy JordanJanuary 12th, 2016

Housekeeping Items

40 minutes of presentation 15 minutes of Q&A All lines are on mute Enter questions into chat box Event is being recorded Slides will be shared post

presentation

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Today’s Presenter

Moderator: Tushar Patel • SVP of Marketing, Innotas• Previously at and Mocana Corp

and National Semiconductor

Andy Jordan • President, Roffensian Consulting Inc.• Well known author and speaker

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Traditional resource management – concept and problems

A better way – concepts and how to achieve them

Knowing what success looks like Do we need to be more agile? Questions

Agenda

http://www.projectmanagement.com/

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Project resources assigned / secured at the start of initiatives – resource allocation◦ Managed by resource owners, stakeholders, PMO

and PM – or some subset of those◦ Generally only considers individual project needs

or current project needs (no future planning) Project resource reassigned during project

execution – resource management◦ Managed by PM, PMO and stakeholders◦ Part of larger resource and project management

considerations

The concept of resource management

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Reactive◦ Happens when problems occur◦ Focused on recovery and damage limitation

Tactical◦ Designed to address short term problems◦ Long term impact rarely considered

Disconnected◦ Ignores downstream impact◦ Creates cascading issues

Common problems with resource management

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Bad resource management drives…

Additional issues

Team disruptionLost productivity

Increased risk

Unclear performance

Missed deliverables

Project failure

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Bad resource management drives…

Additional issues

Team disruptionLost productivity

Increased risk

Unclear performance

Missed deliverables

Project failure

Traditional resource management approaches don’t solve problems – they shift them to less visible areas

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A better wayMonitored

resultsProactive

response

Anticipated change

Skills focus over person focus

Planned dynamic teams

Multi-disciplinary resources

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What◦ Project team members capable of fulfilling

multiple functions◦ Avoidance of ‘single points of expertise’

Why◦ Increases flexibility to move people to address

problems◦ Avoids boredom and stagnation, driving

engagement◦ Supports greater project capacity internally

Multi-disciplinary resources

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Delivering multi-disciplinary resources

Understand organizational

needs

Understand individual

capabilities

Identify deltas

Identify interestsMatch interests and needs

Develop depth and breadth

Assign based on mutual needs

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What◦ Culture where project team change is expected◦ Dynamic alignment of resource allocation and

project needs Why

◦ Helps prevent stagnation (individual and team)◦ Supports delivery of multi-disciplinary resources◦ Improves overall team performance◦ Maximizes ability to have right people in the right

place at the right time

Planned dynamic teams

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Delivering planned dynamic teams

Shorter resource allocation windows (phase instead of project)

Inclusion of resourcing in project reviews (phase, portfolio, alignment, etc.)

Shift to enterprise wide resource allocation instead of silo based approach

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Delivering planned dynamic teams

Shorter resource allocation windows (phase instead of project)

Inclusion of resourcing in project reviews (phase, portfolio, alignment, etc.)

Shift to enterprise wide resource allocation instead of silo based approach

Planned dynamic teams require a cultural commitment across all projects within the portfolio. This is a fundamental shift to an organization’s resource allocation approach, but is crucial for success.

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What◦ Assignment of skills required on a project, not

assignment of individual◦ Assessment of project need vs. supply based on

skills – experience, complexity, etc. Why

◦ Matching skills to needs helps consider ‘best fit’ across entire portfolio

◦ Skills focus is naturally reassessed at key project milestones

Skills focus over person focus

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Delivering skills focus

Skills focus• Project needs at any given point• Granular skills supply (seniority,

experience, etc)• Enterprise wide skills view (best

fit)• Shorter term assignments,

greater expectation of individual diversity

People focus• Assumption that resource needs

are stable• Perspective that movement is

‘bad’• Breaking connection between

‘most senior’ and ‘most important’

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What◦ Fundamental expectation that resource needs will

change over time◦ Planning for adjustments including temporary loss

of productivity Why

◦ Changes will happen – variances to plan, shifting priorities, etc.

◦ Short term loss caused by movement is better than long term loss caused by inertia

◦ Resource agility thrives on well managed change

Anticipated change

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Delivering anticipated change

Culture of short term, needs based

assignments

Expectation that teams will be

dynamic

Focus on ‘best fit’ resources at all

times

Understanding of shifting needs

based on circumstance

Anticipated change

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What◦ Adjusting resources before problems / changing

circumstances require it◦ Preventing problems by managing resources for

prevention Why

◦ Prevention is cheaper than recovery – on all levels Project Resource Portfolio Business

Proactive response

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Delivering proactive response

Proactive resource

management

Risk management

Aggressive constraints

management

Alignment of benefits and

needs

Management of skills supply and

demand (portfolio wide)

Effective HR management

(interests, skills, career, etc.)

Strategic priority

management

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What◦ Management oversight of actual performance vs.

planned performance◦ Adjustment as needed to address unexpected

outcomes Why

◦ Practice is frequently different from theory◦ Performance is driven by actual results◦ Variances from expectation must be identified and

addressed as soon as possible

Monitored results

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Delivering monitored results

Determine change

Identify measuremen

t criteria

Execute change

Monitor measuremen

t criteria

Identify variances

Consider options

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For the organization◦ Greater project success – fewer delays,

deliverable shortfalls, budget overruns and triggered risks

◦ Better business benefit performance – projects deliver greater percentage of target against strategic goals

◦ Higher degree of confidence that portfolio best leverages resource capacity and capability

What does success look like?

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For the PMO / portfolio management◦ More management options – additional strategies

available to address issues◦ Better control of resource management – changes

driven by conscious choice rather than circumstances

◦ Greater cross project communication and understanding around resources

◦ Fewer ‘surprises’ around resource management


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For the program / project manager◦ Better alignment of supplied skills and required

skills◦ Greater appreciation for ‘real’ skills required to

complete work packages◦ More proactive management of project to

resource problems◦ Better, faster solutions to challenges


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For the individual◦ More diverse work opportunities◦ Work assignments more appropriate for seniority,

experience and skills◦ Broader experience within the organization◦ Less ‘down’ time with low value tasks


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How do you know if your resource management approach needs to be more agile?

Do we need to be more agile?

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Do you play ‘chase the delay’?

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Do resources sometimes

resent their assignments?

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Are you ever short of specialist

skills?

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Do you ex

perience

unexpec

ted

resource

needs?




skills?

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Are resources sometimes

inappropriately assigned?

Do you ex

perience

unexpec

ted

resource

needs?




skills?

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Are resources sometimes

inappropriately assigned?

Do you ex

perience

unexpec

ted

resource

needs?




skills?

Are you ever short of resources?

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All organizations can improve the quality of project execution by improving resource agility◦ It’s not a discipline that is ever fully mastered◦ Every project provides opportunities to improve

Work should be prioritized based on the largest areas of ‘pain’ within project execution◦ What are the top three resource management

problems you face?


Innotas © 2016

Innotas Company OverviewFounded in 2006; HQ: San Francisco

Dedicated to improving IT and PMO value contribution through portfolio planning & project execution solutions

Recognized leader with disruptive technology and a history of market “firsts” – most recently Predictive Portfolio Analysis (PPA)

500 customers, including proven enterprise-wide deployments in Healthcare, Financial Services, Technology, Government, and Education

Project Portfolio ManagementEffectively manage project requests, resources, budgets and projects

Application Portfolio ManagementAnalyze and manage IT tasks needed to sustain existing operations

Predictive Portfolio AnalysisPredict, plan, and re-plan your highest value portfolio that aligns with business goals

Resource ManagementProductive alignment of IT resource capabilities and availability

Four-Time“Leader”

“Leader”

Innotas © 2016

Innotas Resource Management Solutions

What-If Scenario Planning

Allocation & Scheduling

Capacity & Demand Visibility

Portfolio-level Resource Planning

Mobile Time Tracking

Resource Workbench (Skills / Roles / Resource)

Complete Resource Management for Every

Level in the Organization

Innotas © 2016

Contact Us

InnotasPhone: +1 866-692-7362

[email protected]

Twitter: @Innotas

Andy Jordanwww.roffensian.com

[email protected]

Twitter: @RoffensianPM

www.innotas.com/resources

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.roffensian.com/

mailto:[email protected]