High-Performance IT - Technical Resource Management
The Best practice IT Standard is:
The best practice standard is a resource management approach that uses minimal technical and applications resources. This means that available resources require skillsets and knowledge to be able to service production support and project needs at the same time.
Projects and production support are equally important. One keeps the production environment running, the other fosters business growth. Preferably, they should not be traded off against each other.
Problem
1. Projects to meet their deadlines require dedicated resourcing with specific skillsets and knowledge.
2. Production support to resolve production issues requires dedicated resources with specific skillsets and knowledge.
3. Required skillsets and knowledge are usually in short supply.
4. A resource conflict occurs when production support and projects need the same resource at the same time. Production support takes precedence which causes project schedule slippage.
5. The question is how to resolve this resource conflict.
Options
1. Have technical and applications resource pools large enough to support both activities at the same time. (This is costly, wasteful and project needs are variable).
2. Backfill production support or project needs with contractors. (This is risky, Inefficient, and costly).
3. Schedule resources part-time on projects hoping to satisfy both activities need. (Does not solve the resource conflict issue and production support still wins).
4. Do forward resource planning and bring in and train contractors to work on projects. (Can work for Infrastructure projects but with Applications Development projects, they usually require specific systems and applications skills and knowledge that contractors may not have).
Best Practice Options
1. Review the Projects Master Plan for the next 12 months and employ and train entry level or resources to supplement the more knowledgeable production support staff.
2. Train entry level staff on as many production support activities as possible. (Critical systems, Recurring problems).
3. Reduce, remove, automate as many as possible, manual production support activities including the use of scripts.
4. Resolve all production support recurring problems.
5. Introduce a Rule of ‘fix a problem once’.
6. Train more production support staff on supported systems and applications.
Performance Assessment
1. How are resource conflicts resolved?
2. Are skilled resources dedicated to projects?
3. If you have a staffing shortfall what is its nature and where is it?
4. How many contractors do you currently have?
5. What is the longest period a contractor has been on board?
6. In which areas are you using contractors?
7. Are contractors asked to document their work thoroughly and is this enforced?
Sample Task list
1. Bring in more entry level staff.
2. Backfill and reduce reliance on contractors.
3. Review staffing needs by team.
4. Have contractors document their work and enforce it.
5. Have contractors’ mentor and train staff and enforce it.
6. Determine further works required and scope out.
7. Breakdown the scope of works to task level, ready for loading into the change management project schedule.
Projects and Technical Resource
1. Avoid multitasking; it’s how to avoid it. All projects have to be fully staffed or they can’t launch.
2. What’s a fully staffed project? One that never waits for a team member to become available. Limit the number of concurrent projects to the number that can be fully staffed, and team members won’t have to multitask.
3. The outcome: Not only will each project complete faster, but the whole project portfolio will complete faster.