HKSM

The planning activity that defines how people and physical resources will be estimated, acquired, organized, developed, managed, and released, including roles, responsibilities, decision rights, collaboration norms, and measures for effective resource use.

Purpose & When to Use

• Establish a clear approach for managing team and physical resources throughout the project lifecycle.
• Define roles, responsibilities, skills needed, decision rights, and reporting lines to reduce confusion and delays.
• Create a team charter that sets collaboration norms, working agreements, and conflict escalation paths.
• Plan how resources will be estimated, acquired (internal or external), onboarded, developed, and released.
• Set capacity constraints, resource calendars, and utilization rules to avoid over-allocation.
• Address compliance needs such as safety, security, labor regulations, and organizational policies.
• Identify resource-related measures and controls, including dashboards, thresholds, and response actions.
• Use early in planning and refresh at phase gates, major scope or schedule changes, or when forecasts show resource shortfalls.

Mini Flow (How It’s Done)

• Confirm scope, schedule strategy, delivery cadence, and procurement approach to understand resource demand drivers.
• List resource types: team roles, skills and levels, equipment, facilities, and materials.
• Define organizational structure and interfaces using org charts and a responsibility assignment matrix (e.g., RACI).
• Outline acquisition strategy: internal staffing, cross-team sharing, contracting, or suppliers, with lead times and constraints.
• Plan onboarding, knowledge transfer, and access needs, including tooling and environment readiness.
• Create resource calendars and capacity assumptions, considering holidays, part-time availability, and time zones.
• Set development strategies: training, coaching, pairing, and knowledge management to close skill gaps.
• Define working agreements in the team charter: meeting cadence, decision rules, feedback norms, and conflict resolution.
• Plan recognition, rewards, and well-being practices to support engagement and performance.
• Specify control methods: utilization targets, burn rates for physical resources, variance thresholds, and reporting cadence.
• Align with risk, cost, and procurement plans for contingencies, reserves, and supplier responsibilities.
• Document the Resource Management Plan, Team Charter, RAM/RACI, and resource calendars, then review with key stakeholders.

Quality & Acceptance Checklist

• Roles and responsibilities are defined with required competencies, authority, and decision rights.
• RAM/RACI covers all major deliverables and key decisions, with one accountable owner per item.
• Organizational interfaces and escalation paths are clear for functional, vendor, and partner teams.
• Acquisition and release criteria are stated, including lead times and backfill plans for critical skills.
• Team charter captures working agreements, communication norms, and conflict resolution methods.
• Resource calendars reflect availability, time zones, and constraints, and are integrated with the schedule.
• Training, onboarding, and knowledge transfer plans address identified skill gaps.
• Physical resource needs, storage, handling, maintenance, and safety requirements are documented.
• Compliance, security, and labor requirements are addressed with owners and verification steps.
• Monitoring metrics, thresholds, and reporting cadence are defined and traceable to decision actions.
• Assumptions, constraints, and risks related to resources are captured and linked to the risk register.
• Stakeholders have reviewed and approved the plan, and tailoring choices are justified.

Common Mistakes & Exam Traps

• Confusing this plan with assigning named individuals; at planning, focus on roles and skills unless names are committed.
• Ignoring non-people resources such as equipment, facilities, and materials that can gate progress.
• Building a detailed weekly roster too early instead of first agreeing on roles, decision rights, and escalation paths.
• Not coordinating with functional managers and procurement, leading to staffing delays or contract gaps.
• Missing team charter agreements, causing recurring conflicts about meetings, tools, and decision rules.
• Overlooking capacity constraints and shared resources, resulting in over-allocation and burnout.
• Failing to plan training and knowledge transfer, creating single points of failure.
• Skipping compliance and safety requirements for physical resources, risking stoppages or violations.
• Assuming resource changes can be made informally; significant impacts require change control.
• Mixing up artifacts: org charts show structure, while RAM/RACI shows responsibility for work.

PMP Example Question

During early planning, multiple projects will compete for the same scarce specialists. What should the project manager do first to reduce future resource conflicts?

1. Prepare a detailed weekly staffing schedule for the entire project.
2. Secure named individuals from functional managers immediately.
3. Develop and gain agreement on a Resource Management Plan with roles, RACI, acquisition and release rules, and escalation paths.
4. Submit a change request to increase the budget for external contractors.

Correct Answer: C — Develop and gain agreement on a Resource Management Plan with roles, RACI, acquisition and release rules, and escalation paths.

Explanation: Establish the planning framework and agreements before detailed assignments or negotiations. This reduces conflict and provides a basis for later staffing and contracting decisions.