Resources

0:00Sara: Welcome to Project Management Exam Prep.

0:03This episode is about resources: the people, skills and things a project needs.

0:08Every project management exam tests it, because a plan is only real if someone can

0:13do the work.

0:14Leo: You will learn how the three bodies frame it, how to plan resources and secure people,

0:18and why effort is not duration. We finish with a drill, so keep a pen ready.

0:23Sara: Let us start with the three lenses. What does IPMA® say?

0:28Leo: IPMA®, the International Project Management Association, sets out its standard in

0:33the Individual Competence Baseline, the ICB4.

0:37Its element on resources asks you, in our words, to plan what the project needs

0:41and who is responsible for it, to negotiate for people, and to settle conflicts.

0:47Sara: And PMI®?

0:48Leo: PMI®, the Project Management Institute, publishes the PMBOK® Guide,

0:54its guide to the project management body of knowledge.

0:56The eighth edition has a resources performance domain, from planning resources to

1:03leading the team. The outline of PMI®'s Project Management Professional exam,

1:08the PMP®, has a task to plan and manage resources, balancing needs against availability.

1:15Sara: And APM?

1:17Leo: APM, the Association for Project Management, publishes the APM Body of Knowledge.

1:23It has two sections: resource capacity planning, which sets demand against capacity

1:28across projects, and resource management, which allocates people to the work.

1:34The syllabus of APM's Project Management Qualification, the PMQ,

1:38asks how resources are allocated in linear and iterative schedules.

1:43Sara: Where do the words differ?

1:46Leo: In three places. First, what a resource is.

1:50The ICB4 lists people, expertise and things.

1:54PMI® splits the team from physical or virtual resources, such as licences.

1:59APM says anything the project needs, but focuses on people.

2:04Sara: Second?

2:05Leo: The person who lends you staff. PMI® and APM say resource manager.

2:10The ICB4 speaks of line management.

2:13Sara: And third?

2:14Leo: The plan's name. The ICB4 asks for a strategic resource plan:

2:19who is responsible for what. PMI®'s resource management plan says how resources will

2:24be managed. APM calls the view across projects resource capacity planning.

2:30Sara: What is the core, whichever exam you take?

2:33Leo: Three ideas. One: a resource is anything the work needs that someone must provide.

2:39People and skills come first, then equipment, facilities, materials and tools.

2:44Money counts too, but the budget has its own episode.

2:47Look hardest for the scarce ones: the one specialist, the one test environment.

2:52Sara: Two?

2:53Leo: You rarely own your people. In a matrix organisation, staff lent to the project

2:59keep their line manager, who decides their time.

3:03So ask early, for named people and set weeks, in writing.

3:08When two projects want one person, settle it by priority, through a route agreed

3:13in advance.

3:15Sara: And three?

3:16Leo: Resourcing never stops, because people fall ill and estimates prove wrong.

3:21So compare planned and real use, and correct early.

3:26When a skill is missing, agree training with the person and whoever lends them.

3:30Sara: Does that change in agile work?

3:33Leo: Yes. In a linear project, you allocate people to activities, and design skills are

3:38needed mostly early. In iterative work, you keep a stable team,

3:43and design skills are needed throughout.

3:45You fit the work to the team's capacity, not the team to the work.

3:50Book shared specialists for each iteration, or build the skill inside the team.

3:55Sara: Now the model, on a free sheet in the description.

3:59Leo: A resource plan answers four questions for each resource: what,

4:04how much, when, and from whom. The ICB4 builds it in two layers.

4:11The strategic layer says who is responsible: who asks for people,

4:15who lends them, who pays for extra, and who settles a clash.

4:20The detailed layer comes from the schedule: each resource, with its amount,

4:25skill and weeks.

4:27Sara: For example?

4:29Leo: Take an eight-month city project that moves parking permits online.

4:33Seven city staff, some lent by departments.

4:37Five supplier developers. One database specialist from IT Operations,

4:42the only person who knows the old data.

4:45And a training room for fifty-eight users.

4:48Each row names who must agree.

4:50Sara: And the skills?

4:52Leo: A skills matrix sets the skills the work needs against each person.

4:57It shows a skill nobody has, and a skill only one person has.

5:01PMI® adds resource calendars: when each person is free.

5:05APM adds a responsibility assignment matrix: who does each work package,

5:10and in which role.

5:12Sara: Next, a small calculation. What is the difference between effort and duration?

5:19Leo: Effort is the amount of work, in person-days.

5:22Duration is the time from start to finish.

5:24Duration is effort divided by the people, each counted by their share of time.

5:29So twenty person-days take one person twenty working days, and two people ten.

5:35One person at half time needs forty. But more people do not always mean less time:

5:40some work cannot be split, and newcomers must learn first.

5:44Sara: And capacity?

5:46Leo: Capacity is the work a person or team can take on in a period,

5:49after meetings, leave and support. In iterative work, it is the planning unit.

5:54Five people with ten working days each give at most fifty person-days per iteration,

6:00before leave and other duties.

6:02Sara: And if demand is higher than capacity?

6:05Leo: Resource smoothing keeps the end date, and resource levelling lets it move.

6:10Both are in the episode on critical path and resource levelling.

6:13Sara: How does this change between Mid-level and Senior?

6:17Leo: First, the two levels. They are this series' own labels.

6:21Mid-level means leading moderately complex projects, the level of IPMA® Level C and

6:27PMI®'s PMP® exam. Senior means leading complex projects and people,

6:33the level of IPMA® Level B and of APM's chartered status, Chartered Project Professional.

6:41At Mid-level, you resource your own project well.

6:44Take Parking Permits Online, a city project that moves resident parking permits

6:48online in eight months. The project manager, Anna, agrees each lent person's weeks

6:54with their line manager, in writing. The data migration depends on one specialist

6:59from IT Operations, so Anna books her early and pairs a colleague with her.

7:04Sara: And at Senior level?

7:06Leo: You design how people are shared across projects.

7:09Take One City Account, a thirty-month city project that brings fourteen online services

7:14under one login, led by Anna some years later.

7:18The city's six integration specialists serve all its projects,

7:22and its portfolio meeting shares them out.

7:25Anna brings the demand for each wave, a group of services that goes live together,

7:30a quarter ahead, with its value and dependencies.

7:34And she develops people: customer-service staff move from counter work to digital

7:38help, planned with the union that represents them.

7:41Sara: Now the drill. A city project is moving resident parking permits online,

7:47before most residents renew in January.

7:50The end-to-end test is on the critical path, and needs four people for two weeks.

7:55Two are service-desk staff, lent by the Customer Service Centre.

7:59A week before the test, their line manager says the desk is short of staff,

8:03so she can release them only half-time.

8:06What is the gap, and what do you do?

8:08Leo: Pause and write your answer. You have forty-five seconds.

8:57Sara: First, the numbers.

9:00Leo: The test needs forty person-days: four people for ten working days.

9:04Two half-time people make one full-time person, so you have three people,

9:09not four. You are ten person-days short: one person for two weeks.

9:15The effort does not shrink, so the test would run longer, and go-live with it.

9:20Sara: And the moves?

9:22Leo: Talk to the line manager today, and ask what the desk needs.

9:26Then offer options. The project pays for a temporary worker at the desk,

9:30so the testers stay full-time. Or bring in a fourth tester, with time to learn.

9:36Or test the riskiest paths first. If you cannot agree within two days,

9:41take the options to the steering group.

9:44Sara: What lifts that to Senior?

9:46Leo: The date has almost no tolerance, so set a deadline for the decision.

9:51Weigh both sides: the desk serves residents today, and a paid replacement protects

9:56the desk and the date. Then fix the system: agree with each lending department its

10:03notice period, and who settles a clash.

10:06And protect the two testers: they should not have to choose between two bosses.

10:11Sara: How do the exams ask this?

10:14Leo: IPMA®'s written exam asks for open answers; at Level B it may be oral.

10:20IPMA®'s certification also includes an interview, where assessors ask about your

10:24own projects, so note one person you negotiated for.

10:29The PMP® exam uses scenarios, and questions built on a case study or a chart.

10:35APM's PMQ asks for short written answers, for example how the life cycle changes

10:40the skills you need.

10:42Sara: Let us recap.

10:44Leo: One. A resource is anything the work needs that someone must provide.

10:49Find the scarce ones early.

10:50Sara: Two. A resource plan has two layers: who is responsible, then what,

10:57how much, when and from whom.

10:59Leo: Three. In a matrix, line managers decide your people's time: ask early,

11:05and agree it in writing.

11:08Sara: Four. Effort is work, and duration is time: effort divided by the people available.

11:14Leo: And five. In iterative work, keep the team stable, and fit the work to its capacity.

11:21Sara: The model sheet and the study handout are linked in the description.

11:25Next time: procurement and contracts.