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154 PRACTICAL RESOURCE SCHEDULING

these substitute for the primary choice? If so, does the effort level need to be
changed to reflect possible productivity differences? We do this all the time (in-
dependent of computer-driven scheduling). Tom is our go-to guy for a particular
type of task, but is up to his ears in alligators. This isn’t exactly Fred’s bag, but he
can handle it in a pinch. So we have Fred pinch-hit for Tom, but perhaps throw a
few hours in for Tom at the start of the task, to provide guidance, and again at the
end of the task to review the results.

Another early consideration, in the case of significant shortages, is to consider
farming out some of the work, or bringing in temporary resources. If the entire
workscope is essential, and time is limited, this may be your only viable recourse.

Can any of the scope be shifted to a different phase of the project, where re-
sources are less stressed? Can you use a prior design or lines of code rather than
starting from scratch? There’s no law that states that you can’t reduce quality or
increase risk (understanding the possible consequences and doing it within rea-
son). Can resources be shifted from a lower priority project?

Trap When managing multiple projects with shared re-
sources, it is normal to re-evaluate project priorities to choose
which project gets first pick of the limited resources. Such ac-
tion will not resolve your severe shortages, but will only shift
which project ends up with the short stick.

If the indicated overload is way out in the distance (i.e., six months or more)
you might want to look at the resource aggregation data as a warning of potential
resource problems rather than trying to fix things immediately. There is too much
chance that the work will change, that the work timing will change, and that even
the workforce availability will change. To be aware of a potential problem is the
first step in mitigating the problem.

Resource Leveling. Are you ready to let the machine help with smoothing the re-
source loading? There are several choices on how to go about this. You may
choose to emphasize time limits or resource limits (or, with some products, both).
Here are a few examples (depending on your software’s feature set).

Time-Constrained Resource Scheduling. The situation: The CPM calculated
end date is 3/1/02. The resource aggregation shows that there are several, spo-
radic overloads, for some of the resources. The contract (or sponsor) allows com-
pletion by 4/15/02. The action: Perform a time-constrained resource scheduling
(leveling) with the end date set at 4/15/02. See if that will alleviate the resource