Today, I finally finished the resource utilization tool I was working on for 2 days now. It is simply an excel sheet that shows a list of employees categorized as developers, testers, and graphics artists, plotted againt the projects they have been part of, are currently part of and will be a part of.

One of the complaints I usually hear during project manager meetings is the lack of available or adequate resources. “We need more developers” or “The current batch simply does not have the experience”, are some of the usual sentiments by Team Leaders and Project Managers.

By circulating a resource plot such as the one mentioned above, hopefully, project leaders will realize and recognize whether or not their team is really in need of additional resources and if the company can spare or reallocate resources from other projects.

There are some areas that a PMO team needs to focus on for this tool to be successful.

• The tool needs to be updated regularly and accurately – “late or inaccurate information is useless information”  – knowing an individual’s skills and expertise is important in assessing whether or not he is fit for a task.
• Projects have to have estimated deadlines, even projects which are considered as time and material – “If the date a resource will be freed up is unknown, then you can’t reassign that resource” - and I believe that the responsibility of knowing when a project will end falls on the shoulders of the Project Manager and Team Leaders. 
• Finally - “Everyone must support the endeavor” - if changes and initiatives like this fall on deaf ears, then it will fail. Lack of support from the bottom up to top management is always key in making organizational changes. This is easier said than done, and can be the ultimate reason why people on fire for organizational improvement usually burn out.