Digital Project Managers are masters of getting things done without doing “anything:” They take talented resources, enable them to work together so seamlessly that the sum is much greater than the parts. That said, figuring out who is doing what and when is one the supreme challenges of an agency. Resource conflicts are inevitable and, often, chaotic. During this session, we will explore the problem provide some tangible solutions by looking at the people, processes and tools that need to be leveraged to get this done.

1. End Resource Management
Smackdowns
How To Make Allocating a Breeze

2. Who do we have in our audience?
● Agency DPM?
● In House DPM?
● How long have you been a Digital PM?
○ <1 | 5 | 10 | 20+
● How many other Digital PMs are there in
your organization?
○ 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 +
● Who has unlimited resources and never has
a resource conflict ever?

3. Goal
Provide prescriptive guidance on making
resource management within a digital
agency/organization as smooth as possible

4. Agenda
● About Me
● Reason for Resource Smackdowns
● How to Avoid the Smackdowns

5. About Me
Who is this person talking to you?

6. Josh Zapin, CSM, PMP:
● Nearly 20 years of building digital
applications/websites/teams
● Director of Operations/Production/Project
Management for several agencies and
eCommerce organizations
● Scrum Certified (CSM) for 5 years; PMI
(PMP certified) for 14 years
● Started Corvus3 to consult Digital
Agencies/Orgs on improving operations
Who is this person talking to you?

7. Who is this person talking to you?

8. People are what you need to make it happen

9. But there aren’t enough people to make it happen
UNLIMITED
RESOURCES
RESOURCE
CONFLICTS
RESOURCE
ALLOCATION

10. Resource
Allocation
How to end smackdowns in 3 steps

11. PEOPLE
PROCESSTOOLS
Three “lenses”
1
2

12. PEOPLE
Improvement pillars follow a linear pattern
1

13. Step #1 - People
Somebody has to worry about it

14. Who are involved? Who owns it?
Organizational Overseers:
● Chief Operations Officer
● Director of Project
Management/Production
Resource Requesters:
● Project Managers
● Producers
Resource Owners:
● Technology Director
● Creative Director
● Chief Technology Officer
● Chief Creative Officer

15. Someone has to sweat the resource allocation details
Ideally, it’s not an “in the trenches”
PMs/Producers:
● Need someone to see “above” the project at
hand
● Adherence to the organization rather than a
particular project
● Must be objective about resource needs

16. Who should own it?
Organizational Overseers:
● Chief Operations Officer
● Diretor of Project
Management/Production
Resource Requesters:
● Project Managers
● Producers
Resource “Owners:”
● Technology Director
● Creative Director
● Chief Technology Officer
● Chief Creative Officer

17. As a last resort: A Project Manager
In smaller organizations, it could be a Project
Manager if:
● There is only one PM in the group
● There is a PM with Director/Manager
wherewithal/desires

18. PEOPLE
Define who is
involved/Make
someone responsible
PROCESS
Improvement pillars follow a linear pattern
1
2

19. Step # 2 - Process
Allocations need regular nurturing

20. Conflicts occur when you least expect it
Problem:
Their project was having trouble
and needed temporary .net help
ASAP
Solution:
My project had .net developers
and could spare a few to help
out
New Problem:
How do you make sure you don’t mess up both projects?
Solution:
A weekly resource allocation process to deal with change

21. Solution: Allocate at a regular interval (weekly)

22. Notes:
● Each shape represents
WHAT will be done
● WHO will do it is noted in
the the “swimlane” for that
process. They can span
multiple roles
● WHEN a process will be
done is noted in the
columns
● Processes could have
many tasks that aren’t
detailed
● Sub-processes have more
processes where other
roles are, potentially,
responsible
How to read swimlane flowcharts

23. Regular Allocation: Who is involved?

24. Regular Weekly Allocation: What is being done?

25. Regular Allocation: When to do it?

26. PEOPLE
Define who is
involved/Make
someone responsible
PROCESS
Make it
regular/boring
TOOLS
Improvement pillars follow a linear pattern
1
23

27. Step # 3 - Tools
Bring it all together and make it scalable!

28. Should you store resource allocations in your head?

29. Keeping resource allocations in your head is a bad idea
● You forget
● It’s not visible to a larger group that shares the
responsibility
● Hit-by-the-bus theory of management breaks
down

30. There are a lot of tools out there
K.I.S.S.
(Keep It Simple, Stupid)

31. Start simple: Use a spreadsheet
Spreadsheets are simple:
● Columns/Rows/
Numbers/Calculations
● Flexibile
● Shareable/Collaborative
in real time
● “Free”

32. Start with the team
The
Team

33. List out their function
What
they do

34. Keep things organized
Extra
Credit:
Separate
Sheets by
Team

35. Detail out what they’re doing
What
they are
doing

36. Detail when they are doing it?
When
they are
doing it

37. Indicate how long it will take to do
How long
it will
take to
do it
Include a
total too

38. Look to the future from the organization perspective

39. Get this sheet for free!
http://corvus3.com/dpmsummit2015

40. PEOPLE
Make someone
responsible
PROCESS
Make it
regular/boring
TOOLS
Make it scalable
Improvement pillars follow a linear pattern
1
23

41. Key Takeaways
What you really need to do to end the smackdowns

42. If nothing else, remember these three things
● Resource Allocation is a role within an organization; even if
you can’t dedicate someone, someone needs to be
responsible for it (and it shouldn’t be a PM).
● To make sure it gets handled appropriately, you need to
bank on a consistent process. Something that is done
every interval (recommended weekly) the same way and
has room to handle conflicts
● Leverage a tool to insure that it is trackable and scalable
and doesn’t get in the way. A spreadsheet is a good way to
start.

43. Thank you!
Josh Zapin, PMP, CSM
@jzapin
jzapin@corvus3.com
http://www.corvus3.com
Meetup: Rocky Moundtain Digital
Project Managers