I first met Ken Dobie at the Resource Planning Summit in Austin, Texas a few years back. Ken is the CEO of Skyemar Consulting, a strategy and project portfolio management consulting firm, and was one of the presenters. At the event, Ken spoke eloquently and clearly, offering a practical blueprint for a recommended cadence for strategic and portfolio planning meetings, a topic often elusive to companies trying to mature in portfolio management. Ken and I had a chance to chat briefly and he was gracious enough to provide an interview on the subject. (Note: I originally published this interview ..read more

One question I hear a lot is: I‘ve been asked to implement resource planning in my organization, but I’m not quite sure what that means or where to begin. A related question I often hear is: Who should own resource planning in an organization? I’ll start with the second question because it’s simple. The answer is… SOMEONE! Anyone! I’m not being facetious. Anybody is better than nobody. While there’s no set standard or rule, or even standard practice, the most common practice I see is someone in the PMO (Project Management Office) owning this role. It’s best if this can be a permanent role. In ..read more

Resource Management Software enables organizations to maximize the productivity and strategic deployment of high-value employees. Every operating organization, large or small, faces the same fundamental question each business cycle: How do we get the most value out of our people and skills? Resource Management Software helps in a few areas:  Creates Visibility – Most resource planning problems can be avoided if they are addressed early enough in the planning cycle. Resource Management Software is designed to look ahead and identify problem areas before they become big issues. Highlights ..read more

Isn’t it funny how there always seems to be resource shortages for your most critical projects? Okay, well maybe not that funny. It’s actually a fairly frequent sad story. Everyone’s busy trying to do their planned tasks, and then a million interruptions come their way. A phone call here. An urgent project there. Sometimes they get distracted by their own pet projects. The planned work they do have ends up taking longer than expected, and before you know it, they’re trying to juggle more balls than your average clown. In an organization where strategies and priorities aren’t well connected to ..read more

What is Resource Management Software? Resource Management Software enables organizations to maximize the productivity and strategic deployment of high-value employees. Every operating organization, large or small, faces the same fundamental question each business cycle: How do we get the most value out of our people and skills? Resource Management Software helps in a few areas:  Creates Visibility – Most resource planning problems can be avoided if they are addressed early enough in the planning cycle. Resource Management Software is designed to look ahead and identify problem areas befor ..read more

Looking for a top resource planning conference to learn from experts and peers? PDWare is proud to sponsor the 10th Annual Resource Planning Summit, which is being held March 20-23, 2022, at the beautiful Park MGM resort in Las Vegas. RPS is the premiere resource planning conference and always features insightful speakers talking about crucial topics in resource planning and management, lots of valuable networking time to learn from peers and experts, and of course, fun evening events. If any of these issues sound familiar, you’ll get plenty of answers at this year’s Resource Planning Summit ..read more

Artist Hans Hofmann said, “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”  I’ve always found that to be such a profound and brilliant statement that applies across a plethora of areas.  Certainly it applies to portfolio management, where a focus on key priorities will drive greater results. It also applies to process, where 20% of the standards will usually bring about 80% of the improvements. Without a doubt, it applies to communication, where saying many things communicates nothing.  And I suppose it applies to art as well, in all ..read more