Managing project resources: how to do it effectively

Managing project resources effectively is one of the key aspects of work towards achieving your goals. In fact, if resources are not adequate, you will never be able to complete your project.

Essentially, we have already covered what project resources are, and we know that “Resources are people, equipment, places, money, or whatever else a project requires to be accomplished”.

The primary element, however, is the human aspect, so we can say: Resources are a group of people working together – possibly using other material resources – towards a common goal.

It may seem a simplistic definition, but efficient resource management does not happen just by bringing a few people together and calling them a Team. You may also want to read this article on how to build a team.

When resources are available and properly monitored, project deliverables can be prepared with knowledge and delivered on time and on budget.

Whether it’s team resources, material resources, or both, they all need to be managed effectively.

So, here are our 8 tips for managing project resources effectively.

Managing project resources: Centralize resources in a single pool

Having all resources centralized in one pool when working on multiple projects or multiple sizes of a single project helps the project manager to have a clear understanding of the resources whenever he needs them conveniently.

Also, when having a centralized resource pool, the project manager and the team can also determine resource limits and this prevents them from being wasted or overused.

Hence, having a centralized resource pool is an efficient way to manage resources rather than creating a distinct resource center for each project or each small task in a single project.

Managing project resources: Determine required resource skills

Before hiring a team, it is critical to emphasize a set of skills that will act as a benchmark for hiring people for the project.

In fact, if your resources have limited or inappropriate skills, your team will be more difficult to manage.

Managing project resources: increase collaboration to boost team productivity

To boost team productivity, you need to increase interaction and collaboration among team members.

To achieve this, you can use a number of collaboration tools.

Having team members become affiliated with each other, they can consequently affiliate with the project better.

For the sake of increasing collaboration within your Team, it might be beneficial to schedule various interactive sessions and meetings where everyone can contribute their ideas and plans.

Getting feedback from each team member promotes creativity and productivity; it also helps team members to get to know each other’s mindset and thinking approach better.

Managing project resources: Make sure you are working on a shared goal

By ensuring that everyone is working toward a shared goal, you can increase trust among team members and ensure that the process is transparent to everyone.

Furthermore, a common goal helps keep an open discussion about any potential project risks or uncertainties that may impact project resources.

This also translates to effective management of project resources.

Yet another thing a common goal helps with is prioritizing activities: when each member has a common goal, they know what needs to be prioritized to achieve that goal.

So, it is important for the project manager to make sure that each member of his team knows what is important so that he can be clear in prioritizing activities.

Managing project resources: Building a proper strategy

When you build a proper strategy, you have a base on which to plan actions and implement them.

Due to the number of resources in a project, it often becomes difficult to manage them without having a sound strategy.

To build an “effective strategy”/”a resource management plan,” you need to determine all the important resources, the time span for which they will be required, and the amount of work that can be accomplished with them.

The remaining task is to stick with the strategy throughout the project and not hesitate to make changes if you see something wrong.

Often, project managers and the team think it’s enough to document the strategy and don’t focus on actually implementing it.

Managing project resources: Use technology where possible

In order to keep a good grip on the resource management strategy, plans and processes, technology can definitely come in handy.

A project management software can prevent human errors by making the entire resource management process efficient.

By using technology, you can save time and improve accuracy so that team members can focus on other tasks.

With Twproject, for example, you can immediately get a view of the team and the workload they are carrying out.

You can learn more on this page.

Leveraging technology goes a long way toward significantly quickening and streamlining processes. Any project features that can be completed using technology should be automated. This will, in turn, minimize the risk of errors and free up staff that can then be reallocated to other projects.

Any automated processes should first be tried and tested to ensure there are no defects, as errors will eventually only lead to more cost along the project life cycle.

Balancing technology and resource management is a key part of business development that allows you to work on multiple projects at once in an efficient manner.

Managing project resources: Prepare for the worst

Unfortunately, you may run into potential risks or uncertainties in managing your resources.

Thus, anticipating potential disasters and having procedures established to address them should they occur is important to the success of any project.

Although it is best to have the necessary resources on hand to solve any potential problem, a solution is also to have a system in place to source external resources quickly.

A Plan B helps you remain confident, and sometimes that alone is enough to manage resources comfortably and effectively.

Managing project resources: Make your project team happy

The project team is what drives a project and an organization in general, and people usually perform best when they are passionate about what they do.

Therefore, the project manager should know what employees love to do and what motivates them the most.

Indeed, matching a resource with a task is more productive than assigning a task to a resource.

Keeping yuor team motivated and happy helps prevent high employee turnover.

Having long-term staff on board increases the likelihood that every project undertaken will be successful.

Also, to acknowledge how important the efforts of team members are, it is important to introduce an incentive system for a job well done and reward them when key milestones are achieved.

A key part of efficient resource management is recognizing that high resource utilization is not always an indication of good resource management.

Therefore, the 8 powerful tips listed in this article can help any project manager in effectively managing project resources.

A project manager needs the resources to deliver a project, but it’s up to them to manage them effectively.