Effective project resource management and allocation

¶ … success depends on the ability to execute and that is where the talent and efforts of the project manager and team members comes into play. Though it is common enough practice to recruit such candidates from outside, or bring in consultants, it is most desirable to institute project teams drawing from people within the organization: "Hiring new people ... need to learn where things are, who to talk with ... outside consultants and contractors have the same problems, along with issues of loyalty and the desire to become wedded ... To the organization." (Teradata, para 7) Having said that, irrespective of the route chosen to put in place a project team, it must be remembered that the role of the project leader or sponsor is critical: "The executive sponsor is the person who needs the data warehouse ... recognizes the value of the decision support capability ... provides budget and political support ... assures the availability of business people who can articulate the requirements and provide support throughout the life of the project. The executive sponsor should be the champion for the data warehouse project and should promote it whenever given the chance." (Teradata, para 1) Besides the sponsor, the project leader and team members are key: "The team was able to finish the project on time and meet project objectives ... steps leading to the success included a focused project manager, involved functional managers who defined project success upfront .... This is a classic case of a project completed through the heroic efforts of three team members ... appears that SITI and Shell do not have a well-defined repeatable project management process in place ... because none of the other Shell companies were able to pass the audit." (CIO Magazine, March 15, 2002, para 1, 4) To sum up, project management involves all the meticulousness of business and organizational management: clearly defined goals and objectives; information gathering and processing to determine change processes; resource planning; budgetary provisions; recruiting the right people; drawing up of time frames; and regular monitoring and reporting. Indeed, successful project management is no different from successful organizational planning and management, involving as it does organizational culture, goals, time frames, budgets and reviews of success or failure!