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The IT Resource Scheduling Dilemma

August 23, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Management Best Practices, Scheduling

The IT Resource Scheduling Dilemma
By David Egan, Global Knowledge Instructor

In many non-IT-related project oriented environments, the staff is dedicated to the project. Scheduling resources of dedicated staff to the project is easy.

Why is Scheduling so Hard For IT Staff?

The average IT department rarely has a staff member that “sits around.”

Everyone is busy with a host of day-to-day tasks, projects, emails, helpdesk and required business activities. So how do you schedule them into the mix?

Most members of an IT support staff are specialists. Depending on the size of your company, they may be the only ones who know the security system or the web site setup. They are tied to maintaining whichever service they are the main support for, usually in higher priority than anything else someone might give them.

Because of this dedication to specific systems support, they are unlikely to have a lot of spare time. They also may not have many other skill sets not associated with IT jobs. If you do not work with these people regularly, you probably do not know what other skills they might have that could be useful.

Do you have a week you can dedicate to a project? Do you have other tasks that must get done every day and require your time? Many people would consider reading and responding to email a major part of their daily work. If you have a PDA, like a Blackberry, you are probably responding to email all day and into the night as well.

Most project management software assigns tasks based on days of work, or maybe in hours. But it also assumes the whole day is available from a given resource. The reality for IT staff is that a free day of time is rare. Many IT staff in support roles will only have a few hours of time a day and ONLY if nothing goes wrong and requires their attention that day or week. They know the priorities - what keeps them employed usually wins out over a secondary project.

A Solution

If you are an IT support staff member, consider yourself for a minute.

Consider what tasks you do regularly during a day. What tasks take most of your time? List them out and then try to understand how you would be useful to anyone else’s project. For example:

  • IT Staff: David E.
  • IT Skill Set: Microsoft, Linux + UNIX Operating Systems support, Network security, Routing, Firewalls, Documentation, Acceptance testing
  • Other Skill Set: Used to do housing construction, coaches hockey and baseball
  • Available: At MOST, 2 hours a day assuming 10 hours in the day.
  • Current Projects: Accounting system upgrade and acceptance testing, creating disaster recovery procedures and systems
  • Typical Day:
    • Email - 2 hours
    • Support calls from sales people and customers - 2 hours
    • Staff meetings - 1 hour average
    • Fixing computer issues for people in office - 2 hours
    • Working on other projects - 2 hours
    • Time that might be available - 1 or 2 hours

How to Apply the Task Profile

If you have to factor in shortened availability and possible interruptions, the ability to get something done on time is not high. If you were to keep track of every staff member’s skill set, including past projects, you might be better able to ascertain what they can do.

In some cases, these projects might include the development of new skill sets or working with the latest equipment. This is a commonly found motivational factor for IT staff. Provide them with a technological challenge to get and keep them interested. Motivation is an excellent tool in getting your projects done by people who have little spare time.

How many IT projects are being worked on in your company this week or month? Are they on time? If not, which projects would get shuffled to the bottom of the priority list of any of these already overworked IT staff?

Even more important, IT projects are typically one-off, totally customized, and mission critical, because they affect the core of your business: your data, systems, and network! Once these projects are in place, they are pampered by the support staff to keep them running.

Sure you could outsource some of the work by using contractors, and these extra staff would help alleviate the pressure, but someone still has to supervise the contractors, perform acceptance testing, maybe documentation and training support and support the system after it is installed.

In Summary

Project management in an Information Technology (IT) world is usually a special issue. Unless your company is willing to outsource the project or bring in contractors, you have to figure out a way to “find the time” with staff who have very specific skills that are absolutely necessary for what they do and not much else. If you are not the direct manager of these IT staff, you need to get to know them better. You need to know the mixture of experience they have, what day-to-day tasks they spend most of their time on, and what might interest or motivate them if you should need them in the future.

This article was originally published in Global Knowledge’s Business Brief e-newsletter. Global Knowledge delivers comprehensive hands-on project management, business process, and professional skills training. Visit our online Knowledge Center at www.globalknowledge.com/business for free white papers, webinars, and more.

© Copyright 2008, Global Knowledge. All rights reserved.

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