No more whack-a-mole: 8 steps to stop resource overallocation in its tracks

<key-takeaways>

<color="white">

Key takeaways:

• Dealing with resource overallocation often feels like playing whack-a-mole. A reactive approach, where tasks are reallocated whenever a problem arises, provides short-term relief but doesn’t address the root cause of overallocation.
• What works is setting up solid resource management processes that enable you to allocate work based on your team’s true capacity.

</key-takeaways>

If chronic resource overallocation is the norm in your organization, a stressed-out team is just the beginning of your problems. Jessica Jones, the Creative Operations Lead at advertising agency Paper Moose, puts it perfectly:

“We cannot afford to overload our teams because their satisfaction drops, their inspiration drops, their creativity drops, our product drops, and our bottom line drops.”

Print that on a T-shirt! 👆

While reallocating tasks or adjusting due dates offer short-term relief, a more lasting solution involves setting up systems that ensure work is allocated based on true team capacity, resulting in a balanced and manageable workload.

<cta-box>

<image-color="yellow">

Spot and fix overallocation early with Float

With a live view of your team’s schedule and a color-coded dashboard of their workload, Float helps you manage capacity and prevent overallocation.

<cta-button>Try Float for free today</cta-button>

</cta-box>

A quick recap: what is resource overallocation?

💡Skip this section and jump straight to the tactics to prevent overallocation if you’re already familiar with the basics. If you’re not, stick with us.

Overallocation is an imbalance in workloads where a team member is assigned more projects and responsibilities than their capacity can realistically handle.

Often, overallocation is accompanied by its bosom pal, underallocation—where team members are not assigned enough tasks to fill up their time or assigned work beneath their skill level. 

These two extremes might exist in your team, but they’re not always apparent—unless you’re using a resource management tool that shows the capacity and allocations of individual resources, like Float 👇

5 negative side effects of resource overallocation

Resource overallocation threatens the health of your team members and reduces project success rate because of:

1. 📉 Decreased productivity: when people have too many projects to juggle, their efficiency decreases from frequent context switching. Tight turnarounds can also lead to anxiety about work, which makes it even harder to get anything done—especially in creative teams.
2. 👎 Reduced quality of work: when team members are not given enough time to do a thorough job, they might struggle to prioritize the most critical tasks, leaving important aspects of the project unfinished—which in turn leads to subpar results.
3. ⌛ Missed due dates: when people are overloaded, they have less time to complete their work or account for contingencies, leading to missed due dates.
4. 😥 Increased stress: constant stress leads to severe long-term physical and mental health issues. Chronic stress diminishes your team’s overall effectiveness and performance.
5. 🧨 High levels of employee burnout: team members with too much to do in too little time may become overstressed, leading to physical fatigue and reduced mental function needed for daily tasks. They might work slower and be unable to take breaks to rest and recover, which results in more work piling up—and the vicious cycle continues.

<sme-box>

<sme-color=”green”>

<sme-image>

</sme-image>

<sme-author>

Lauren O’Halloran

</sme-author>

<sme-position>

Head of Production at Toaster

</sme-position>

<sme-quotes>

On a human level, the main danger of overallocation is burnout. While working beyond typical hours is sometimes necessary, we don’t want that to become the norm. Burnout not only affects team morale but also impacts the quality of work and attention to detail. If someone is overallocated, the risk of delivering a low-quality product increases. This is a significant concern because it can lead to sloppy work and missed details.

</sme-quotes>

</sme-box>

How to resolve and avoid inefficient resource allocation

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that a reactive approach, where tasks are reallocated whenever a problem arises, can provide short-term relief—but it doesn’t address the root cause of overallocation.

The most effective approach is a combination of:

• Short-term fixes, like reallocating tasks and prioritizing urgent work
• Long-term measures, like capacity planning, utilization monitoring, and resource forecasting using resource management software 

First, let’s discuss three short-term fixes you can implement right away 👇 ‍

1. Reschedule work 

Adjust project timelines to ease the workload of overallocated team members. This option is best when changes to the resource schedule won’t significantly impact the project’s timeline. 

Prioritize your existing workload

If there’s some buffer, move tasks around based on priority levels and push less critical tasks to a later date. Once you’ve prioritized your allocations, consider delaying the start of a project, giving your team more time, or splitting tasks: 

• Delaying start dates: move the start of the project to a later date when their capacity is freed up
• Extending project durations: if your project’s timeline is flexible, extend the finish date to provide extra time for your team
• Splitting tasks: if a task can’t be completed within a certain time frame due to limited availability, you can spread it across a longer period, scheduling work for when the person is available 

If you use Float, a quick look at the Schedule view will tell you all you need to know about your team’s capacity and how changes to allocations will affect ongoing and future work. 

Ensure you speak to team members about project schedule changes and loop in stakeholders to manage expectations. 

💡Learn how to use resource leveling to handle projects with short timelines 

2. Reallocate work 

Delegate work to team members with the capacity and skill set to take on tasks. If they are not available, you might have to get additional resources from outside your organization. 

Source additional hands internally 

If your organization has multiple offices, you can request that resources with the right skills be assigned to a different team’s project for a specific period. This is the perfect time to reduce underallocation of resources by delegating tasks to them. 

<sme-box>

<sme-color=”green”>

<sme-image>

‍

</sme-image>

<sme-author>

Lauren O’Halloran

</sme-author>

<sme-position>

Head of Production at Toaster

</sme-position>

<sme-quotes>

When the need for extra resources arises, I can access the global team’s resources on an ad hoc basis. If the San Francisco office doesn’t have the bandwidth to take on a project, I can reach out to someone in a different office. Additionally, when we don’t have an illustrator, animator, or motion graphics specialist on the San Francisco team, we rely on the global team for those skills.

</sme-quotes>

</sme-box>

Outsource work to freelancers

If there is no one available or with the right skills on your team, consider hiring external help. Outsourcing is usually a last resort as it may increase project costs and affect profitability if not planned for from the start. 

💡 Learn how to use resource smoothing to manage demand on your people’s time‍

3. Negotiate due dates for ongoing projects

If outsourcing work or giving your team more time is not possible, consider approaching stakeholders to request an extension of the project timeline. 

Make a strong case for your request

When making the ask, don’t go empty-handed. Provide detailed information on your team’s capacity and current workload to demonstrate why additional time is necessary. If you use Float, you can share your team’s visual schedule with the client or stakeholder, so they can see the capacity and allocations of resources and better understand workloads. 

<sme-box>

<sme-color=”green”>

<sme-image>

‍

‍

</sme-image>

<sme-author>

Thomas Walters

</sme-author>

<sme-position>

Head of Studio Movember

</sme-position>

<sme-quotes>

Our color-coded Schedule in Float allows me to very quickly show someone why their work can’t be done on the day they want it. They take one look at our timeline and instantly understand the challenges we face, and together, we can work on a way forward rather than being stuck at an impasse.

</sme-quotes>

</sme-box>

<hr>

Now that you’ve doused your fires with these short-term solutions, it’s time to set up long-term resource management processes to help you avoid overallocation 👇

4. Determine baseline capacity and plan work accordingly 

Overallocation often results from unrealistic expectations about how much time team members have to complete their work. True capacity is influenced by several factors, including work hours, time off, and administrative tasks. Additionally, interruptions and various demands on available time mean that team members cannot be productive every single hour of the day.

Centralize information about resource availability 

Input team members’ work hours, work days, employment type, and regional holidays in your resource management tool. For example, in Float, you can set custom work hours for each team member, which is ideal for remote or distributed teams. Sick days and unexpected absences are also recorded and made visible to everyone, making it easier to plan work.

Sync your team’s calendar with your resource management software

Non-project work might not be visible on your team’s schedule. As an extra safeguard, have them connect their personal calendars to your resource management tool to show time spent in meetings or other activities. 

5. Run regular capacity planning meetings 

Capacity planning meetings serve two main purposes: aligning everyone on resource allocations and proactively identifying high workloads. 

Key stakeholders can make resource requests, allowing for real-time negotiation and task alignment. Managers can also spot allocation problems and ensure workloads are evenly distributed.

Set a regular cadence

Regular meetings help you catch workload changes early. Set them up at intervals that work for your team, whether daily, weekly, or biweekly. 

Invite the right stakeholders

Include stakeholders who allocate work, like resource and project managers, creative directors, and account managers. For example, the capacity management team at global agency Scholz & Friends run weekly meetings with account managers and creative directors.

Use a resource management tool as your source of truth

When discussing allocations, availability, and workloads, use a resource management tool to see team schedules and capacity in one place. 

<sme-box>

<sme-color=”green”>

<sme-image>

</sme-image>

<sme-author>

Angela Faunce Leaf

</sme-author>

<sme-position>

Executive Producer of Integrated Production at  Tilt Creative + Production

</sme-position>

<sme-quotes>

The visual of a person being ‘in the red’ in Float is key. While sometimes unavoidable, like meeting a strict deadline for a TV spot, it signals the need for action when caused by multiple projects piling up. In such cases, it’s essential to reevaluate and reprioritize: is it a specialized task only they can handle? Can it be reassigned to someone else? Are we overestimating the time needed for specific tasks?

</sme-quotes>

</sme-box>

Make adjustments to allocations as needed

For instance, if you identify a particular resource who will be overloaded soon, you can reassign tasks to prevent burnout. Similarly, if someone is currently overallocated, you can shift some of their work to others with similar skills.

By now, your team should be set up for successful project delivery—but your work doesn’t end here. Here are two ways to proactively stay on top of allocations so you don’t run into the same problems in the future 👇

6. Monitor utilization rates regularly

Regularly checking resource utilization rates helps you understand how much work your team members are doing and ensure workloads stay balanced. High utilization rates might indicate overallocation, which requires immediate attention. 

Note: utilization rates are company- and team-specific, with different organizations aiming for different rates—your team might aim for 100% utilization, inclusive of non-project work. However, if your organization aims for 80% utilization and is creeping toward 95%, you might have an issue. 

Use a resource management tool to track utilization rates

For example, in Float, you can check utilization by hours or percentages. This helps you identify when team members are overallocated and need support.

Find the root cause of high utilization rates

When you notice high utilization, investigate the specific reasons behind it by speaking directly with team members or their managers. Determine how much billable work they are doing, what projects they are involved in, and whether the work can be allocated to someone else.

Fix the problem 

If team members have too much work outside of projects, and need to spend more time on billable tasks, assist them by prioritizing their projects, delegating work to others, and cutting unnecessary tasks. If they are spending time keeping other projects on track, communicate with team leads to ensure they come to you first for assistance. 

7. Forecast resources needed for a project 

Once you learn that new projects are in the pipeline, it’s a good time to assess who will be needed to get the work done and what skills are required.

Proactive resource forecasting helps reduce overallocation by predicting future workloads, matching upcoming workloads with team capacity, and identifying skill gaps. 

<sme-box>

<sme-color=”green”>

<sme-image>

</sme-image>

<sme-author>

Lauren O’Halloran

</sme-author>

<sme-position>

Head of Production at Toaster

</sme-position>

<sme-quotes>

Once we get a Statement of Work signed, we consider who would be the best fit for the project based on the type of deliverable and their current bandwidth. For example, if the project involves video production and we don’t have someone in the SF studio who specializes in video, we would discuss this during the scoping and kickoff stages and reach out to the team in another location, such as the Delhi team, which has an animator on staff, to check their availability. If they don’t have the capacity to take on the project within our estimated timeframe, we’ll start exploring other options, like talking to freelancers or other external partners we have worked with before, to find a suitable solution.

</sme-quotes>

</sme-box>

Here are some questions to help you with resource forecasting:

• Who do we need to work on the project? Start by identifying the specific team members required for the project. ‍
• What skills do they need? Identify the specific skills necessary for the project. ‍
• How much effort do they need to put in? Estimate the amount of effort required, measured in hours or workdays. Speak to team members for a more accurate estimate. ‍
• How much time will they need to complete the work? Break down the project into smaller tasks and estimate the time required for each. ‍
• Do we have enough available resources to do the work? Assess your current team’s availability to see if there are enough team members to handle the workload without overallocating them. ‍
• How do we close the gap between resource demand and supply? If there is indeed a gap, plan how to address it by reallocating tasks, adjusting project timelines, hiring temporary staff, or providing additional training. 

Now, all these might seem like a lot of questions and variables to determine 🫠 But there’s a solution! Float makes it easy to forecast project resources using the Tentative project feature. 

You can create a project before it’s confirmed and allocate work using placeholder roles to simulate resource plans without impacting current project schedules. When a plan is marked as tentative, its estimates and allocations won’t interfere with ongoing work, allowing you to plan efficiently without disrupting current creative operations.

<sme-box>

<sme-color=”green”>

<sme-image>

</sme-image>

<sme-author>

Angela Faunce Leaf

</sme-author>

<sme-position>

Executive Producer of Integrated Production at Tilt Creative + Production

</sme-position>

<sme-quotes>

Within Float, we have a number of ‘Unassigned’ project resources we use as placeholders for projects that are still in the bidding stage, or not fully scoped or scheduled yet.‍

‍Similarly, for known repeats, we will book the appropriate folks but keep as ‘tentative’ until full details are known. An example of this might be recurring work around the holidays for a retail client.

</sme-quotes>

</sme-box>

8. Set realistic project timelines and goals

Short timelines often mean your team doesn’t have enough time to complete their work, so they work longer hours. Similarly, if project goals are unclear or overly ambitious, your team may end up working overtime to meet client expectations.

Realistic timelines and achievable goals ensure your team has the time to do their best work and handle any contingencies. 

Use past estimates

Review previous projects to see how long similar tasks took and create more accurate timelines for current or upcoming projects. If a past website design took six weeks, plan for a similar timeframe for a new, similarly-sized design project. 

If you use Float, the Report dashboard is a great tool to identify trends and timelines. All project information is recorded there, so you can compare estimated timelines with the actual time taken to complete projects, and make more accurate estimates for future projects.

‍

‍

Speak with team members about timelines

Get input from your team on how long they think tasks will take and use their insights to adjust timelines. For example, if you’re about to kick off work on a web development project, you can ask your devs how long they need to build a feature based on past experiences.

Break down projects

Divide projects into smaller tasks and assign realistic timeframes for each. For example, you can split a marketing campaign into tasks like content creation, graphic design, and social media scheduling, each with its own due date. 

💡 Download our free work breakdown templates to plan work effectively 

Add buffers

Provide a cushion for unforeseen delays by including buffers in your project timeline. You can either add a percentage buffer (where a percentage of the estimated time would be used as extra time) or a fixed time buffer (where you add an exact amount of time to each task). For example, if a task is estimated to take 10 days, add an extra 1-2 days as a buffer.

<sme-box>

<sme-color=”green”>

<sme-image>

‍

</sme-image>

<sme-author>

Lauren O’Halloran

</sme-author>

<sme-position>

Head of Production at Toaster

</sme-position>

<sme-quotes>

I encourage the project managers on my team to build in buffer time into the timeline to account for unforeseen issues. We aim not to push the team too hard and can’t afford to overload anyone. Our goal is always to allow enough time for tasks and enable team members to work on multiple projects smoothly.

</sme-quotes>

</sme-box>

Consult your team about project goals

Involve your team leads in the planning phase to ensure goals are realistic. Make sure everyone understands the project scope and agrees on deliverables. Hold a kickoff meeting where team members can voice concerns or suggest adjustments to the goals.

[fs-toc-omit]Proactive resource management is your best defense against resource overallocation

Overallocation is a continuous risk as you plan your team members’ time across multiple projects. By setting up systems that ensure work is allocated based on team capacity, you can help your team members avoid overload and deliver their best work.

<cta-box>

<image-color="yellow">

🫸 Stop overallocation in its tracks

Float helps you proactively manage capacity and prevent overallocation throughout the ebbs and flow of project work. Get clear visibility into team workload and make informed allocation decisions.

<cta-button>Try Float for free today</cta-button>

</cta-box>