I am managing three different Digital Marketing campaigns, and all of them need our lead "Data Scientist" at the same time. This 'Resource Contention' is causing delays across the board. How can I plan capacity so that shared specialists aren't constantly context-switching? Should I allocate them in "Time Blocks," or is there a better way to prioritize which project gets their expertise first without upsetting the other stakeholders?
3 answers
Context switching is a productivity killer—it can take up to 20 minutes for a specialist to get back into "The Flow" after switching tasks. I recommend "Fixed Allocation" for shared resources. Instead of asking them to work on three projects daily, assign them to Project A on Monday/Tuesday, Project B on Wednesday/Thursday, and Friday is for "Floating Support." This creates a predictable capacity plan for each project manager. It also gives the specialist the "Deep Work" time they need to actually produce quality results. We found this increased our overall output by nearly 25%.
Have you established a "Global Priority Matrix" so that the specialist knows exactly which project's tasks take precedence when multiple requests come in?
You should use a 'Skills Matrix' to see if anyone else on the team can handle the lower-level tasks, freeing up the specialist for high-level work.
Elizabeth is right; often, "Expert Bottlenecks" are caused by specialists doing work that a junior-level staffer could handle with a bit of guidance.
Richard, we have a priority list, but every stakeholder thinks their project is "P1." I’m trying to get the PMO to enforce a "Weighted Shortest Job First" (WSJF) model. This way, the decision is based on "Cost of Delay" rather than who shouts the loudest. Do you find that stakeholders respect an algorithmic prioritization, or do they still try to bypass the process to get their work done first?