How to simplify resource scheduling across projects

What is resource scheduling?

Resource scheduling allocates assets to specific tasks and projects within a set timeframe. Depending on the industry, your resources could include team members, equipment, and facilities.

Everyone has access to the resource schedule, which outlines time commitments and responsibilities throughout the project life cycle, so there’s no confusion.

For most teams, resource scheduling involves answering three questions:

• What resources does this project need?
• When does it need those resources?
• Are those resources available?

Answering these questions keeps everyone on track and prevents delays.

Enhances project efficiency

There are several ways to sabotage project efficiency, from assigning the wrong resources to delegating tasks too late. Resource scheduling allows managers to see the entire project scope and what each project needs. 

Imagine you need a senior developer to work on the company app but don’t practice resource scheduling. You may forget that the developer needs to collaborate with the finance team until it’s too late, forcing you to change the project timeline.

With resource scheduling, you assign all resources and tasks during the project planning phase. That way, you don’t have to worry about fixing resource conflicts.

Prevents resource overallocation

Suppose you have a senior developer working on a new app. Are they also working on the new website? What about the chatbot management wants to launch at the same time? If the decision-making process only looks at when the developer is available, you might overload them.

Resource management lets you distribute work evenly to avoid burnout. You'll know if someone stretches themselves too thin or needs more work. 

Preventing overallocation makes financial sense. If you have a faulty or nonexistent resource schedule, assigning too many resources to a project is expected. Extra resources add to the final bill and limit the team's ability to do other things.

Resource scheduling software stops overallocation. However, there may be a learning period. Assess your team’s average productivity to ensure equitable task allocation.

Improves project timelines and delivery

Ensures optimal resource utilization

Resource scheduling shows how your team uses its resources. Do you have team members sitting idle because their projects don’t fill the workday? Are team members working beyond their capacity?

You achieve optimal resource utilization when you extract the most productivity from your resources with minimal waste. Manually finding that balance is almost impossible.

Without resource scheduling, you lose a bird' s-eye view of resources and their availability. Recognizing under—or overutilized resources becomes difficult, and you may have trouble assigning roles effectively.

Resource scheduling showcases each team member's tasks in real-time so you can quickly adjust when problems arise. For example, you can reassign a task to someone with more time and skills or rebalance your team’s capacity.

Common challenges in resource scheduling

In a perfect world, resource scheduling would be hiccup-free. Schedules would fall into place with little friction, and resources would always be available. 

Teams frequently struggle with project constraints, varying scopes, and competing interests. For example, the content team wants to use your new freelancer to create website blogs, while the advertising crew believes new ad copy should come first. 

Prioritization is a vital part of resource scheduling. Here are four common challenges you might encounter:

Resource conflicts and overallocation

Overallocation could be your team's biggest problem. Simple resource scheduling usually prevents extreme cases of overallocation. However, the problem is more persistent than it seems. 

Say you assign someone three concurrent tasks, each taking one-third of their workday. That doesn’t leave much wiggle room. If one project falls behind, the others will, too, leaving the worker stressed and scrambling to get results. Now, the team has a resource conflict.

You may not be able to eradicate overallocation problems with resource scheduling, but you can limit their occurrence. Ensure you have a resource management plan, and watch for updates.

Handling resource availability and skills

Resource scheduling makes it easy to assign tasks, but what if someone isn’t available?

You may struggle to find the necessary information if you rely on spreadsheets and whiteboards. An overview of who’s working on a particular project won’t help when looking for specific skills or availability.

With software such as Jira and its resource management tools, you can track each team member's schedule and abilities. This software allows you to spot potential bottlenecks before they grow and employ tactics such as resource-leveling.

Resource leveling refers to shifting task due dates to accommodate limited resources. For example, if one designer needs to work on two ad campaigns, you can lengthen the project timeline instead of hiring another designer.

Managing changes and uncertainties

Resource scheduling helps your project management team respond to changes, but it may not be enough if the schedule has limited space.

You might get a new client or see a team member exit for maternity leave. How do you fit this in if the schedule is full and you don’t have extra resources available?

You have three choices: pause a project, delay deadlines, or hire more help. 

Using software makes changes more manageable. With Jira, you receive automatic change notifications and have more time to figure out what to do.

Balancing multiple projects and priorities

Everyone on your team has projects and priorities. Properly scheduling resources helps smooth difficulties, but it is not the only solution. You may overlook individual motivations. Regular communication with your team is critical. 

Ask for project updates, and keep your door open to criticism.

Even if team member goals align, you still have to balance multiple projects. Resource scheduling doesn’t give you a key to determining priority. Step back and think critically about each project’s purpose.

Prioritize resource scheduling in project management with Jira