Assigning Work/Employee Schedule

[SuperCAD]

I've posted about this before, albeit a long time ago, but the problem is getting worse now that my department is growing.

 

Currently, I have over 130 projects that my team and I are keeping track of. Most of the projects (around 120 of them) are either on hold (waiting for information), stuck in internal review (our teams are reviewing the drawings for accuracy), or waiting for our customer's approval. The number of projects that we can actively work on is very, very small, to the point of deciding on whether or not to start sending people home.

 

The information we need to continue trickles in at times, but there is always the possibility that everything can come in at once, putting us into a panic as to which project(s) should be done first. When this happens, it usually requires that I get approval for overtime since we end up having more work than can be done in a normal business week. When I need to justify the overtime, I am asked to provide a schedule showing who will work on what and for how long.

 

The problem is that I have no idea when we will be able to work on any specific project since it largely up to our customers as to when they can, or will, give us the information we need. Also, especially with one "highly custom" customer, it is nearly impossible to say how long their projects will take because we've usually never done anything similar to use as an estimate.

 

My opinion is that it is completely pointless to make a work schedule since it can change at a moments notice (and it has), requiring me to rework the schedule. Instead, we've been keeping a list of the projects and just taking them on a "first come, first serve" basis. However, I'm still being asked to provide a schedule with a lot of unknown information.

 

If anyone else is in, or has been in, a similar situation, I'd really appreciate it if you could share a tip or two on how you handle it. Even if you don't experience this kind of situation, I'm open to any suggestions that you may have.

[Dadgad]

While it is understandable at a management level that somebody thinks it would be convenient to have this,

barring clairvoyance or time travel even Walker would have a hard time with this request.

 

It seems futile, as we don't know what we don't know, and there is nothing to be gained

except a false sense of omniscience by creating a document which implies that the

author has super human powers.

Once you know, the information is already historical data, and worth recording and tracking.

 

If they insist you do it, be sure to include a lot of formulatic responses with unknown variables,

which perhaps they can solve.

[ReMark]

Somewhere, somehow, someone (you) has to make an educated guess as to just how long a certain project is going to take. You can always aim high and if you come in below the number tell management it was because of the excellent work ethic of your group.

 

Maybe you need to look into some project management software.

[Dadgad]

Somewhere, somehow, someone (you) has to make an educated guess as to just how long a certain project is going to take. You can always aim high and if you come in below the number tell management it was because of the excellent work ethic of your group..

 

ReMark, a splendid suggestion old boy, that aiming high, and taking the credit if and when one finally comes

good in a timely fashion!

[RobDraw]

The first step to being able to doing any sort of scheduling for your staff is to have schedules or at a minimum a list of milestones for the projects. The project manager should provide this. If not, make one of your own. They are a best guess to start with and usually change during the course of the project. Present the schedules to your team and discuss strategies for staffing.

 

With that many projects floating around, you've got a disaster waiting to happen. A schedule of any sort, even if it is a guess, will help you keep your sanity when they all start getting active at the same time.

 

The lulls and the times for all hands on deck are unavoidable as no matter how hard you try, there are always going to be those times when you are waiting for certain information and it doesn't come until the last minute. At least with a project schedule, you've got something to start with and use as a guide to make adjustments when project schedules change. Your superiors and clients should understand this and realize that.