Resource Management Best Practices from a CUSTOMER perspective

[NicholeVargas]

If your organization successfully utilizes Workfront's resource management tools, what are 3 best practices that you would share with new customers who want to get started! These tips and tricks will be featured in the upcoming Workfront Wednesday:Did You Know? blog around resource management, prioritization and time tracking.

Look forward to hearing from you!

[DavidGu1]

• Resource management is a cycle - not a "set it and forget it" step. Estimates inform initial plans, plans change and are updated based on the reality of work, and both project managers and resources have a responsibility for communicating those shifts effectively and talking through what it means for getting the work done. It has to be a team effort to be successful.
  • Dates and Planned Hours should be updated weekly at a minimum (more if necessary) to get an accurate read on what's coming down the pipe.
  • Focus on planning forward - updating work that's done or already in the past causes more work than it helps support. You can't change the past and messing with planned hours that way will throw off any data you could use to learn where you need to adjust things.
  • Actual hours are the truth of what happened - always record them and as accurately as you can. This is how you measure how close the estimate of planned hours was and refine for the future. And the UTILIZATION report embedded in a project is best for this to look in a specific period instead of task by task when you're dealing with multiple task assignments for users on a project.

[NicholeVargas]

@David Gutzmann‚ Thank you so much for sharing these tips. I know that new customers will appreciate hearing another's customer perspective on how to best utilize the resource management tools! Would I be able to share these best practices in the Workfront Wednesday: Did You Know? blog and credit your name and/or company?

[DavidGu1]

@Nichole Vargas‚ Sure, you can use this and credit my name. Leave the company off, please.

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

David, thanks for your tips, and Nicole, for citing them in Sue's Workfront Wednesday post this morning. Until you did so, as Kyna and I have been discussing trying to improve, only the three of you would have had any notification of David's post.

Regards,

Doug

[kynabaker16]

Hi Doug,

You're right that the real-time notification of David's post wouldn't have gone out immediately to anyone who hadn't liked this post, or bookmarked it, but his reply was included in the digest email to those who have the "digest" options selected (and yes, the digest truncates replies after 180 characters or so, which is another feature request we have logged). I know it doesn't solve for the real-time notification, but there are ways to see this post that vary based on your notification settings.

Thanks!

Kyna

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Huh! Interesting point, Kyna,

So to stay as current as possible, I've set my settings to Real Time email alerts...but to stay as informed as possible, I'd have to give that currency up and instead choose Daily (or weekly Digest).

I'd not spotted that Catch-22 until you pointed it out, but definitely see room for improvement. Please add it to your Improvements List (under "real time email alert of all posts without having to press Like" on my behalf.

In a related story (way off topic, so let's switch to email or another thread if you prefer, rather than continuing posting here), I met with a SalesForce guru this morning who gave me some suggestions on achieving such notification, which I'm pursuing in my spare time, and will keep you posted.

Regards,

Doug