Scenario Planning for Strategic Resource Allocation
Staying ahead in today’s business world takes more than just a good plan—it takes the ability to adapt. Scenario planning gives companies the tools to navigate uncertainty with confidence.
Blog
The PDWare Blog
Articles in the order they were published, newest first — resource capacity planning, portfolio prioritization, agile planning, and PMO practice.
2025
The Role of Asset Management in Resource Management Software
Maximize efficiency by combining asset management and resource management systems. Discover how integrated planning reduces costs and improves allocation.
Time Tracking & Resource Management for Project Success
Effective project management relies heavily on two key components: time tracking and resource management.
2024
Resource Forecasting Techniques & Guide
Learn resource forecasting techniques to optimize project management, allocate resources effectively, and stay on track with timelines and budgets.
Resource Constraints: Techniques for Efficient Management
Discover strategies to overcome resource constraints and how ResourceFirst software can improve planning and resource allocation.
Resource Management 101
In the realm of business strategy, unlocking the full potential of your team and resources can be a challenge.
Why Resource Plan in Agile Organizations?
2023
Pipeline Scenario Planning with ResourceFirst
Scenario planning is no longer a complex task reserved for the few. With PDWare's ResourceFirst, you can navigate the intricate world of resource planning with ease and precision. Discover how below.
MedTech Layoffs: 5 Ways to Do More with Less
MedTech workers have been hit hard by layoffs. These 5 key resource planning and portfolio optimization practices can help you do more with less.
2022
Portfolio Management Meeting Cadence - A Conversation with Ken Dobie
I first met Ken Dobie at the Resource Planning Summit in Austin, Texas a few years back. Ken is the CEO of Skyemar Consulting, a strategy and project portfolio management consulting firm, and was one of the presenters.
Implementing Resource Planning - Getting Started
I've been asked to implement resource planning in my organization, but I'm not quite sure what that means or where to begin.
15 Reasons Your Resources Are Working on the Wrong Stuff
Isn't it funny how there always seems to be resource shortages for your most critical projects? Okay, well maybe not that funny. It's actually a fairly frequent sad story.
2021
Building a Culture of Prioritization
So you've done the exercise of prioritizing all the projects in your portfolio. Now you have to decide how to communicate those priorities to your organization.
The Number ONE Skill Most Organizations Have in Short Supply
Let's face it. It's relatively easy to teach technical skills or business functions. What's more difficult to teach are natural strengths.
2020
Working Remotely: 3 Levers for Success
The use of remote workers and virtual teams has been growing steadily over the years and is a proven effective method for increasing engagement (see the Gallup article: “Is working Remotely Effective?
2019
Who Should Own the Resource Effort Forecast?
There’s no doubt about it. Someone needs to have a general idea of who’s scheduled to do what in the organization, at least for the near term future.
Why Most Organizational Metrics Don't Change Behavior
In my last blog post, I shared insights from Brightline research on how agility and collaboration drive strategy execution, particularly breaking through organizational silos and decentralizing decision-making.
Study Reveals Agility and Collaboration Drive Strategy Execution
Ongoing planning, active engagement, empowered teams, and heavy collaboration are not only key components of an agile mindset; they're paramount to achieving good strategy execution.
A Project Selection Scorecard Can Predict Success
I came across an excellent project selection scorecard in a PM Times article, written by Drew Davison.
How Resource Planning Tools Drive More Effective Agile Funding
According to an article, Agile operating environments offer 3 management levers to influence the outcome, scope, and schedule of agile initiatives.
A Process Model for Resource Management
One question I get asked a lot is: Who should own the resource management process in an organization? There are a number of considerations, and perhaps the first question to ask is: What should the role consist of?
Why Prioritization is Crucial and How To Do It
Recently, I've seen some organizations attempt to justify why lean process design and operational excellence can eliminate the need to prioritize. Their rationale is: If we do things faster and better, we can do it all!
The ROI of Resource Management and Planning
If you try searching Google for data on the ROI of resource management or resource planning, you won't find much, if anything.
A Systems Approach to Resource Management Optimization
One often overlooked method for improving resource management optimization is to employ systems thinking.
It's the People, Stupid: Key insights from Brightline and Google
It's hard to dispute that people are the fuel on which an organization runs. They're what'll carry you from an idea or a goal to a winning product or service.
Why Simplification Leads to Greater Adoption
Before the days of cell phones with great cameras, I went camera shopping in a specialty camera store.
Agile Resource Planning: How Resource Planning Complements Agile
Some people wonder if and how resource planning applies in an Agile world and how Agile resource planning works. There should be no question.
The Advantages of Product-Based Execution
Could there be greater benefit to operating in “product mode” by organizing ongoing business capability-focused teams around products and product lines?
Top Considerations for a Project Prioritization Framework
The Forbes Technology Council has a nice little article, Project Prioritization 101, that highlights ten key elements of any good prioritization project prioritization framework.
Can You Really Deliver That Strategy? What You Need to Ask
Strategy execution is more than just agreeing on your strategies and doing them. There are multiple facets that enable successful organizations to deliver on their strategy, not the least of which is resource planning.
2018
Resource Planning Can Make You a Superhero: The Human Side of Resource Planning
People often associate resource planning with cold numbers or hard skills, and speak in terms of "FTEs," "resources," and "head count."
When is Agile Not Agile? Common Mistakes to Avoid
As organizations strive to gain greater business agility, many are adopting Agile methodologies, not realizing that their implementation of it is anything but agile.
When It Comes to Resource Planning, Timing is Everything
An infographic by Brightline looks at four dilemmas that represent the four dynamic tensions relating to timing when implementing strategy.
Project Overload: The One Thing You Need To Do To Resolve It
Too many projects and not enough people. It’s a battle cry heard in organizations everywhere. A new article published in HBR (Harvard Business Review) titled “Too Many Projects: Why Companies Won’t Let Bad Projects Die”
Strategic Planning in an Agile World
I've often written about the importance of continuous planning at multiple levels, while also emphasizing the urgency of fostering business agility to meet dynamically changing needs.
7 Practices of Resource-Savvy Organizations
Maximizing your organization's human capacity to get things done doesn't have to be complicated. It fact, it's pretty much common sense.
When Execution Problems Foil Good Resource Plans
In the campy, fun, 1966 Batman film, Batman (played by Adam West) was running all over a waterfront marketplace trying to dispose of an active bomb (the round, black kind, like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons).
Is Your Organization Value-Focused?
Professor and author Morten Hansen wrote an excellent article on the American Management Association Playbook site titled "One Big Mistake Managers Must Avoid (It's About Your Time)".
How to Include People AND Make Expedient Decisions
There are methods for including and considering alternate ideas, and informing people why certain approaches are being taken.
10 Productivity and Morale Killers That Are Crippling Your Teams
With all the talk about resource capacity planning, it's easy to forget that productivity and morale play a huge role in your organization's capacity to get work done.
How Your PMO Can Support Agile AND Waterfall: Tips for Adaptive PMOs
So much has been written on the Agile PMO, the Adaptive PMO, and how the PMO needs to evolve from being the methodology police to an enabler of business agility and a leader of change.
Key Principles of Good Strategy Execution
Brightline has published an excellent set of 10 guiding principles to bridge the ubiquitous gap between strategy design and delivery, and I think it should be required reading for all leaders.
Resource Management Success Factors: Benchmarks Are Consistent
I recently rediscovered this insightful paper from noted consultant and trainer Kent Crawford on PMOs and Resource Management.
Strategy Execution Framework: 3 Drivers of Successful Strategy Execution
In this informative 7-minute video from Harvard Business Review titled "Why Strategy Execution Unravels--And What To Do About It," three cornerstones of successful execution are discussed, as well as five common myths.
Dispelling the Myths about Bimodal IT in Project Management
In today's world of digital transformation and the Internet of Things, among other advances in technology and logistics, business agility is not just an advantage, it's a necessity.
Are You Leveraging Your Team's Strengths?
Robert Heinlein said, "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig."
Distributed Versus Co-Located Teams: Which is Best?
The title to this post is a bit of a trick question.
Strategy Execution is Driven by Conversations
Whether it's conversations about strategy and priority, conversations about staffing and resource planning, or conversations about project needs, the greatest enabler of getting things done is... you guessed it...
Simplicity Gets Things Done. Plain and Simple.
Artist Hans Hofmann said, "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."
Project Priorities Are the Foundation of Effective Resource Allocation
When staffing an onslaught of incoming and active projects, it's tempting to try to "fill in the gaps," assigning resources to meet the stated skill needs.
Team Culture Boosts Resource Productivity
More and more, organizations are planning and working in teams. That's an important fact to remember when talking about resource productivity and planning. Yes, heroes can and do save the day (and that's just fine.
Focus Matters on Agile Projects, Too: Oscillation versus Iteration
In my last post, I talked about the importance of focus. Nowhere is focus more needed than on Agile projects, where change is king.
Finding a Balance with Virtual Teams: Don't Let Them Get Lost in Space
Maximizing resources isn't just about putting the right people on the right work at the right time. It's about harnessing the collective strength of your people.
Goal Setting Key to Project Success and Resource Planning
Albert Einstein said, "Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age."
Do You Have a Group or a Team?
Much has been written about effective teams. But some people get confused as to what a team really is, let alone how to make it effective.
Process and Productivity: Finding the Right Balance
Many organizations struggle with how much process to put into place versus "letting people do their thing." There are a number of perspectives to consider.
Project Estimation and Resource Planning Go Hand in Hand
Effective project estimates and resource planning are indelibly linked. After all, if the estimates are wrong, it'll skew your resource plans.
Visibility of Resource Capacity and Demand Drives Decision-Making
Visibility of resource capacity and demand isn't just important. It can be the difference between good decisions and bad ones.
Are You Sabotaging Your Resource Planning Efforts with Poor Talent Management?
You can have the best resource planning processes and systems in the world, but if you have the wrong people in the wrong roles, you're sabotaging yourself.
Are You Using Your Resource Planning and Portfolio Data to Drive Decisions?
A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.
Getting Started with Resource Planning? Use the 80-20 Rule
The Pareto principle, or the law of the vital few, proposes that roughly 80% of the effects of a situation come from 20% of the causes. I believe this is also accurate for both project management and resource planning.
How Will Artificial Intelligence Impact Project Management?
In addition to consulting, writing, and teaching in the business world, I also write science fiction, though sometimes, as actor Richard Dreyfuss told me at a recent event, it's hard to tell the difference.
Resource Capacity Planning: Thinking Beyond Project Management
When I talk to certain people about resource capacity planning (you know who you are), their mind immediately goes to technology resources, not people.
The Role of a Project Manager
Former Beatle Ringo Starr sang the iconic line, "You know it don't come easy". He could've easily been singing about bringing projects to the finish line successfully.
PMO Strategy and Driving Strategy Execution
Management legend Peter Drucker said, "Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it."
That is the whole feed, back to May 2018. Prefer to read by subject? The Insights hub groups these articles by topic →