Resource Scheduling Tips with Standard Time

This article offers a few tips for resource scheduling and project management.  Our product, Standard Time, has been used for scheduling projects and resources for almost ten years (at the time of this writing in 2008).  We've seen many different business models and scheduling scenarios.  We hope our advice helps.  And, we welcome you to contact us for a live demo of Standard Time.  We can discuss your needs in detail.  Click here to schedule one.

Tip #1: Don't overload
Your employees aren't machines.  You cannot schedule resources for every hour of the day.  And, you cannot schedule tasks back-to-back.  It doesn't work that way.  Machines can finish tasks one after another, every minute of the eight-hour day.  Human beings cannot.  They take breaks, call their spouses, go to the bathroom, surf the web, attend meetings, and many other non-project related activities.  The Standard Time resource allocation window takes this under consideration.  It allows you to choose the number of project hours per day.

Tip #2: Demand machine-like performance
This sounds like a contradiction to #1.  After all, human being aren't machines, right?  True, but you must demand performance from your employees.  Too many breaks will ruin your bottom-line performance.  When the cat's away, the mice will play.  That may not be a resource scheduling tip, but it's a good practical one.  But how to do that?  See the next tip for advice.

More tips below...

Use the Standard Time Resource Allocation
window for resource scheduling

Tip #3: Short, achievable goals
It is normally better to schedule resources for short weekly goals, rather than long nebulous ones.  People who can motivate themselves for long-term goals usually set the goals themselves.  They don't need resource scheduling.  Most teams need weekly accountability and achievable goals.  Regular, ongoing success motivates people to succeed.  Use the Standard Time project history window to show that success.  It displays a line chart showing remaining project hours.  As the line goes downward, people are motivated.

Tip #4: Remember time off
Everyone needs time to recharge, so expect people to take it.  Make sure to plan for time off like vacation, sick, training, personal time, etc.  Standard Time lets employees enter time off requests, which can be approved by managers.  Those time off requests are displayed in the employee timesheet.  use them in your resource planning.

We hope these few tips have helped.  And, we hope you'll take an opportunity to download Standard Time.  It offers much more than project scheduling.  There is a timesheet, expense tracking, time off tracking, and client billing features.  We'd also be happy to set up a personal demo to work through your questions.