Who is keeping you on task and running your organization behind the scenes? There are two important roles: the Project Manager (PM) and the Resource Manager (RM). These positions are distinct but intertwined, each playing a unique role in ensuring successful project outcomes. Let's get into some of the differences, the benefits, and how they can work together most efficiently.
What’s the difference between project managers and resource managers?
Project Management is all about coordinating, planning, and executing of projects to achieve specific goals within defined constraints. Project Managers are the ships' captains, responsible for steering teams toward milestones, managing risks, and maintaining project timelines.
On the other hand, Resource Management focuses on optimizing the allocation of resources, be it manpower, skills, or tools. Resource Managers ensure that the right people are assigned to the right tasks, maximizing efficiency and productivity.
What are the role responsibilities of a project manager?
These roles may vary depending on the size of the team, but generally, Project Managers lead the overall project strategy, communication, stakeholder management, and risk mitigation. They are accountable for project success and work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure deliverables are on track.
Some specific responsibilities include:
- Creating and managing a project budget
- Coordinating schedules and deadlines
- Establishing, communicating, and tracking metrics
- Conducting risk analysis to foresee potential issues
- Collaborating with executives, clients, sponsors, and investors
- Assessing a project’s success during and after
- Adapting schedules and resources as challenges arise
What are the role responsibilities of a resource manager?
Resource managers look at the overall resources, including people, skills, time, money, materials, and technology. They work with the project manager to find the resources needed for a project and strive to eliminate bottlenecks. This often includes balancing these resources between multiple projects.
Some duties of a resource manager include:
- Working with human resources to find, hire, assign, and train personnel needed to complete projects.
- Understanding the skills of the company’s staff in order to properly assign people to projects based on their experience and skills.
- Supporting and training employees.
- Balancing workloads among staff to prevent burnout and improve employee satisfaction.
- Working with executives and other decision-makers to make sure an organization has the materials they need to deliver upcoming projects.
- Finding and implementing any necessary resources, including technology or other supplies. Resource managers may work with financial and/or IT professionals to find reputable material suppliers, make purchasing decisions, find and implement new tools and software, and help manage money.
- Helping project managers keep things on schedule.
Pain Points When PMs and RMs Aren’t Collaborating
Misaligned Priorities:
When PMs and RMs operate in silos, priorities can diverge, resources get overloaded or mismanaged, employees get overworked, and deadlines are missed.
Lack of Visibility:
Operating in separate systems or disjointed spreadsheets can result in a lack of transparency. Without transparency, it’s hard to make informed decisions or adapt to prevent problems.
Inefficient Planning:
Poor coordination between PMs and RMs can lead to inaccurate project estimations, resource shortages, and inadequate project planning.
Communication Gaps:
When communication channels aren't well-established, critical project updates might not reach the right stakeholders, hampering decision-making.
When deadlines are missed, and communication falls apart, employee frustration goes up and efficiency goes down. On the other hand, when PMs and RMs work together, there are many benefits.
Benefits of collaboration between PMs and RMs
Enhanced Efficiency:
When PMs and RMs collaborate seamlessly, resources are optimally utilized, minimizing idle time and boosting overall efficiency.
Accurate Planning:
Close collaboration leads to more accurate project timelines and resource allocation, reducing the risk of project delays. They can work together to predict how many projects are doable at any given time.
Improved Employee Satisfaction:
Balanced workloads and aligned expectations increase team morale and job satisfaction.
Better Decision-Making:
When PMs and RMs share insights, they make better-informed decisions leading to more successful projects and resource utilization.
Strategic Alignment:
Collaboration ensures that project goals align with available resources, facilitating the achievement of long-term strategic objectives.
Tips for collaboration between resource managers and project managers
Collaborative Planning:
Involve RMs in the planning phase to align project requirements with available resources. Collaboration should happen through every phase of the project.
Clear Communication:
Communication is always key. Regular check-ins between PMs and RMs promote open dialogue and facilitate the exchange of critical project and resource-related information.
Shared Tools:
Adopt an integrated software solution, like Forecast that allows both roles to manage projects and resources in one place. Navigating separate spreadsheets is a thing of the past. Collaboration is much easier when everything is visible and accessible on one platform. You can also leverage these tools to predict resource needs.
Cross-Training:
Encourage team skill-sharing to enhance flexibility and resource availability during crunch times or when someone is on vacation.
Feedback Loop: Maintain an ongoing feedback loop between PMs and RMs to refine resource allocation strategies based on your organization's specific needs.
In short, PMs guide project execution while RMs optimize resource allocation. When PMs and RMs complete their separate tasks, but remain unified in purpose, their combined efforts help teams meet their deadlines, maximize their resources, and make informed decisions.
