We know that project portfolio management is far more than checking off a to-do list. Optimally running PMOs are led by resource management. In our previous blog post, we laid out the most common pain points in organizations that are still focused on task management instead of on the biggest determinants of project portfolio success: its people.
Principles and Foundations of Resource Management
ProSymmetry’s recent white paper details those pain points, and then goes on to lay out several foundational principles to achieving strategic and impactful resource management:
- Using data to understand the present and project a clear vision of the future. Leveraging data can inform strategy, improve decision-making, and enhance strategic flexibility. To do so, we need enterprise resource management software that can generate reports and predictive analytics for PMOs to take action.
- Connecting and cooperating with your organization’s Human Resources Management (HRM) to maintain an engaging work environment. When all systems merge toward serving the larger strategic function and aligning core processes, “the entire organization is able to utilize people efficiently and effectively.”
- Deploying multi-project scheduling techniques that coordinate and cooperate with projects and resources.
- Building optimal teams with proven sociometric approaches.
“Using key psychological concepts of sociometry, a PMO can “determine which individuals should be chosen from a given pool of resources and how to combine them into one or several simultaneous groups in order to assure the highest possible work efficiency.”
“Human Resource Allocation Management in Multiple Projects Using Sociometric Techniques” by Pablo Ballesteros-Pérez, M. Carmen González-Cruz, and Marta Fernández-Diego. Published in the International Journal of Project Management.
These foundational principles of resource management offer the potential to enhance decision-making, right-size delegation, and capacity, and improve overall organizational sustainability. Read the entire white paper to see what the research says a new kind of resource management should actually look like.
The Future is Resource Management (White Paper Abstract)
Project management that has long been oriented to tasks and deadlines is showing its age and revealing a pressing need for a new focus on resources. Using outdated tools that lock us into thinking only in terms of work packages and timelines is leading to organization-wide errors, overload, burnout, resource competition, project delays, decreased productivity, and missed opportunities for retention. This white paper uses the latest research in Project Management and Organizational Leadership to outline the causes and consequences of continuing to rely on outdated standards. This paper also guides us into resource management as the way forward for organizations seeking new tools powerful enough to allocate resources and build teams strategically, coordinate multiple complex projects, and build scenarios to enhance decision-making and invite creative thinking. Download the full paper for free.
ProSymmetry was founded in 2007 by passionate resource management experts. Since then we have continually strived to solve the resource management challenges that slow down, damage, and overwhelm organizations. We do this through our flagship product, Tempus Resource, which is used by Fortune 500 companies like Siemens, Airbus, Qualcomm and DELL, and was labelled a “resource management solution accessible to the masses” and was awarded the 2016 Cool Vendor by Gartner.
