Following on from our article that identified the SEVEN challenges to implementing IT Changes, this is the SECOND in our series of exploring the challenges of allocating sufficient resources to the project. Running IT Change Projects comes with its own set of complexities, with resource allocation being one of the most significant hurdles. The need to strike a balance between ongoing operations and transformative initiatives often stretches resources thin, leading to delays and potential failures. Here, we are going to delve into the challenges of resource allocation and explore strategies that organisations can employ to ease this burden.
Let’s look at the challenges and how organisations could address these issues.
In IT Change Projects, resources encompass human talent, time, and financial investments. Each of these resources is finite, and their effective management is crucial for project success. However, several challenges arise –
1. Competing Priorities
Organisations often juggle multiple projects concurrently (sometimes organisations have too many concurrent projects which in itself is an issue), each with its own urgency and importance. This competition for resources can dilute focus and hinder the progress of IT Change Projects. What happens when there is a Priority One incident requiring your resource? – you will have to reschedule the task to a different day.
I would like to think this is an exception and occurs rarely, but I cannot remember a project where I have not been running around trying to identify where my resource has gone only to find they are firefighting an issue and there is no one else available. There is little you can do unless it occurs too often impacting project progress, then it’s time to escalate and identify alternate resource from external suppliers to assist. It wouldn’t be the first time I have followed that path.
2. Skill Gaps
IT Change Projects demand specialised skills, which may not be readily available within the organisation. Identifying and deploying the right talent can be time-consuming and costly, leading to delays.
This is usually picked up early when scoping the project and identifying suitable resources. The problem comes when the resource allocated has been identified as the expert – is clearly not an expert and is struggling to deliver to the required time and quality, citing every excuse available for why they have not delivered.
This happened recently where a project was being run on time and hit the delivery stage, and the requirements were passed over for the build, but a stream of excuses was provided on why the service was not implemented as required. The client was embarrassed (although it took them many weeks to admit there was a skills gap), and we had to call in external resource to supplement skills and transfer knowledge across. This significantly delayed the project whilst skills were identified, procured and onboarded.
3. Budget Constraints
Allocating sufficient financial resources is another common challenge. Budget limitations can restrict the scope of projects, leading to compromises on quality or delaying critical components.
It is interesting that organisations manage their project resources differently, I was working on two projects for two organisations in the same industry sector, where one had an internal charge for project resource based on a daily rate, whilst the other was only focused on external costs that would be applied to the project.
If you are running a project and resource is charged then like most project stakeholders, a level of contingency is added to the item to ensure they have not under scoped their allocation requests (it always looks good to deliver under budget). This comes in many ways, time to complete a task, the budget cost to procure a device, and of course resource time. A project should rarely go over budget unless there was poor planning or an unexpected major exception was identified, resulting in a budget overspend change request to your Project Steering Group.
4. Timeline Pressures
Tight deadlines are a hallmark of IT projects. Ensuring that resources are available and effectively utilised within these timelines requires meticulous planning and often faces unexpected disruptions. Having worked in IT most of my life, a lot of it as a technology engineer, it amuses me when today’s engineers on projects try to blag excuses on why a task was not completed. I hate to inform them that I used that excuse when I sat in their seat. I always try to use some common strategies when dealing with technical engineering teams.
Firstly – provide clear dates for completing tasks and remind them on a regular basis (try not to confuse by changing the dates). If you say it enough times the engineers will deliver their piece of the project on time. Try it.
Secondly – IT Engineers only have a 2-week forward view and your request if further than 2 weeks it will be dropped from their ‘To Do’ list. You may think this is unfair but work on that basis and understand what they need to do and provide short and clear set of requirements that needs to be completed within the next 2 weeks’ time. This will help them plan and if you politely follow up, you will see that your project tasks are delivered on time.
While resource allocation remains a formidable challenge in IT Change Projects, adopting a strategic and flexible approach can make a significant difference. By prioritising projects, investing in talent, and leveraging technology, organisations can navigate these challenges and drive successful transformations. Ultimately, it’s about finding the right balance between resources and project demands to achieve sustainable growth and innovation for organisations.
Thanks for reading – look out for our third article on IT Change challenges where we look at Integration with existing systems.
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