In today’s competitive world, companies and employees are expected to do more with less. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies laid off or furloughed workers and/or restructured operations. According to a 2020 study by VitalSmarts, “8 out of 10 employees feel they’ve been asked to do more with less and they’re struggling to keep up.”
As your teams continue to adjust to existing and future demands, effective resource management is more important than ever to prevent employee burnout and maximize the resources at hand. Teams can use resource management tools like Trello Enterprise to help efficiently manage available resources so they can do more with less.
What Is Resource Management?
Resource management is scheduling, allocating, and planning organizational assets in the most efficient way possible to meet company goals. It’s the optimization of resources for the right tasks at the right time.
“Resources” encompass everything needed to complete a specific project or job, both tangible and intangible. That includes personnel, budget, time, specific skills or expertise, software, technology, materials, etc.
As noted, resource management centers around three main techniques:
- Resource allocation. This technique focuses on distributing and utilizing resources so that work is completed efficiently and on time. The goal is to make sure the right resources are available to complete the job at hand.
- Resource leveling. This strategy aims to avoid an overabundance or shortage of resources and focuses on spreading them out evenly. It helps to determine realistic deadlines and workloads.
- Resource forecasting. This process looks ahead at the scope of upcoming projects and what resources may be needed. This is key to determining when to invest in or cut resources.
Resource management and project management, another common term, are similar but have a few key differences—particularly when it comes to the scope of responsibilities. According to Teamdeck.io, resource managers look companywide, whereas project managers focus on managing a specific project (or projects). Projects also tend to be time-sensitive, whereas resource management is an ongoing, long-term responsibility.
Rather than sorting through spreadsheet after spreadsheet, having the right resource management system and tools available can make resource management much easier. Let’s take a look at how a resource management tool like Trello Enterprise can help teams effectively manage resources.
Collaborate In One Central Location
Research from Project.co shows that while “89% of people believe that effective communication is extremely important, 8 out of 10 people rate their own business’ communication as either average or poor.” Trello helps improve communication by keeping information and resources in one easy-to-access location for increased visibility and efficient collaboration across teams and departments.
Teams can customize boards, cards, and labels to organize important information and make it accessible to everyone. For example, your team can dedicate a workspace as a knowledge hub so that employees can quickly share expertise and relevant information. Teams can also create a workspace that clearly outlines employee names, contact information, work schedules, time off, and other key details to simplify scheduling and help better align workload capacity across the team.
360Learning uses Trello to collaborate on content pitches and assignments, noting that “without Trello, this task would likely fall to the administrator or someone with particular editing rights, meaning a simple task would take longer than it needs to.” Now they’re able to collaborate and finalize their template in under an hour.
With all the information, resources, and communication in one place, teams can free up time and personnel resources by minimizing back-and-forth and unnecessarily switching between apps for discussions. By sharing knowledge, they’ll also reduce training time and minimize bottlenecks in the workflow.
Automate Tasks To Increase Efficiency
According to Asana’s Anatomy of Work Index, “The average knowledge worker devotes 60% of their time to work about work,” which includes searching for documents, communicating about various tasks, and juggling priorities, rather than doing deep work. Built-in automation and integrations in Trello Enterprise allow teams to make the most of one of the most important resources—time—by eliminating repetitive tasks.
Butler can automate almost any tasks in Trello to help minimize repetitive work and keep tasks moving forward. For example, your team can set up triggers to move cards to different boards or automatically adjust due dates. Setting up the right automation can save teams a lot of time throughout the day and allow them to focus and work more efficiently.
Teams can also use Trello Integrations for other tools they’re already using, such as Slack, Gmail, and Salesforce, to increase efficiency and reduce time spent switching between screens. Users can also take advantage of 140 Power-Ups, which provide additional customization opportunities within Trello, to streamline the experience even further and make it even more efficient.
Distribute Workloads Evenly
According to the 2020 Eagle Hill Consulting COVID-19 Employee Burnout Survey, 58% of employees surveyed felt burnt out, with 47% of them attributing that burnout to their current workload. Teams can use Trello Enterprise to track and assign tasks in a more organized way, which helps keep the workload manageable. A more manageable workload helps minimize burnout and overallocation.
As noted, team members can use workspaces to track working hours, schedules, time off, when to order more materials, etc. This gives teams more visibility when planning tasks and allows for more realistic deadlines and expectations, which helps minimize stress.
Trello’s Table view also provides the functionality to track workload and tasks both on a teamwide and individual level. In this view, teams can quickly see cards across boards for a high-level overview, then quickly filter by lists, labels, members, and due dates for a more individualized look at resource availability.
In Timeline view, teams can stay on top of projects and sprints with a clear visual layout. As circumstances change, such as when a team member needs to take an unexpected sick day or there’s a delay in a shipment of necessary supplies, it’s easy to adjust due dates and reallocate tasks to better align with available resources.
Benefits Of Using Trello For Resource Management
Effective resource management can benefit companies in three major ways.
First, better tracking and distributing workloads will lead to higher employee satisfaction. With simplified workflows and better resource planning through Trello Enterprise, employees feel less stressed and burnt out. Plus, more efficient collaboration and communication mean there are more opportunities for deep work and building relationships with colleagues.
Second, customers will also benefit thanks to better internal tracking and management. Trello Enterprise provides deep insights into tasks and projects, which allows teams to more accurately predict project scopes and deadlines. Plus, automation and integrations speed up the process. In turn, it helps your team consistently meet (or exceed) customer deadlines, which leads to better customer relationships and higher customer satisfaction.
Third, teams are able to engage in better decision-making. Unique views and increased collaboration within Trello Enterprise provide a deeper understanding of how resources are allocated and where resources might be lacking. This allows teams to proactively predict potential pitfalls and business needs and engage in more strategic resource allocation and planning.
Don’t Let Your Resources Manage You
Trying to do more with less and keep up with shifting demands can be tough. In fact, 40% of workers report their job is “very or extremely stressful.” Work management systems like Trello Enterprise can help you better manage your resources to help reduce stress and keep things running smoothly, no matter what lies ahead.