Planning shared staff across several projects

Plan a shared employee’s time in one combined schedule, with a named decision owner for competing requests. Separate proposed demand from approved commitments. Otherwise, each project lead can make a plausible plan that depends on the same hours.

Collect requests in a common format

Ask each project lead for the deliverable, required skill, estimated effort, earliest useful start, latest acceptable finish and any dependent handover. Mark each request committed or proposed.

A due date alone does not say when the person must work: a large task may be flexible across a week, while a short review may need to happen on one day.

Include recurring duties and known absence when calculating time available for project work. For staff in different Australian locations, check the relevant state, territory and regional public holidays alongside each person’s working pattern.

Keep assignments from another team visible even if that team uses a different board.

Proposed vs Approved Work Requests

Resolve a clash as a decision

Consider a hypothetical designer with 24 hours available for project work next week. Project A requests 12 hours, Project B requests 10 and Project C has an approved six-hour commitment. Demand is 28 hours, four more than capacity. Moving Project C’s work to another column would not resolve the clash.

First check whether the estimates and timing remain sound. Then show options to the people authorised to change commitments: move flexible work, split a deliverable, transfer suitable work to a qualified colleague, obtain extra help or revise a promised date.

Show the effect on each handover. Do not allocate the same hours twice because two project leads both consider their requests urgent.

Record the agreed decision in the combined schedule and each affected project plan. Name who decided and when the allocation should be reviewed again. If a change awaits approval, keep the approved commitment visible and label the alternative as proposed.

Protect the handover

An allocation should identify the output the person will deliver, not merely reserve a percentage of their week. Confirm who provides the brief, who reviews the work and what happens if an earlier task slips. Apparently free time may be unusable if a required input arrives after it.

A short allocation record can include the person, project, work package, effort, planned work period, status, decision owner and next review point. Where projects use different tools, nominate one source for the person’s combined commitments and reconcile approved changes with each project plan.

Review before adding work

At a regular cross-project check-in, review new requests, changed estimates and absences with the shared staff and project leads. Ask whether the work fits the proposed days, particularly if a tool spreads an estimate evenly across a date range. If new work would displace an approved commitment, identify its owner and obtain a new decision.