Resource, communication and procurement planning

0:00 The plans beyond scope and schedule

A retail chain in Dubai, fictional again, planned a loyalty app launch for the holiday season. The scope was clear, the schedule looked fine and the budget was approved. Then someone checked who would actually do the payment integration. The only two specialists were booked on another project for six weeks. And the payment gateway onboarding had an eight-week lead time nobody had started. Two small facts, either of which would have missed the season. In this lecture you'll learn the planning that sits beyond scope and schedule: resource planning, clarifying responsibilities with RACI, communication planning that works in both directions, and procurement planning that respects lead times. By the end, you'll be able to build a RACI and a communication plan in an afternoon, and spot the procurement item that could sink your date.

0:59 Why it matters

Why does this matter? Because schedules are built from roles, but projects are delivered by named people, who have other commitments, holidays and limits. Responsibility gaps are just as dangerous: when two people think the other is doing something, it doesn't get done, and when both think they own it, it gets done twice, differently. And procurement hides long lead times: contracts, security reviews, vendor onboarding, hardware delivery. These rarely appear on the critical path until someone checks. The fix is simple planning, done early, with real names and real dates.

1:39 The concept: resources and RACI

Here's the key idea: plan the people as carefully as the tasks. A resource plan lists named people, or at least confirmed roles, their capacity and the dates they're needed. A simple heat map of people by week shows over-allocation instantly. Look especially for critical skills held by only one or two people, because they're single points of failure. Then clarify responsibilities with RACI. Responsible: does the work. Accountable: owns the outcome and signs it off, and there should be exactly one per activity. Consulted: gives input before. Informed: told after. Think of it like a restaurant kitchen: several cooks may be responsible for a dish, but only one head chef is accountable for what leaves the pass. Keep RACI to the activities and decisions that matter; a RACI for every task becomes wallpaper.

2:37 Communication and procurement planning

Communication planning answers a simple question for each audience: what do they need to know, through which channel, how often, and who owns it? Executives might need a monthly one-page summary; users need release notes and training; suppliers need weekly coordination. And make it two-way: build in feedback loops, such as surveys, office hours or champions' networks, so you hear concerns early. Procurement planning answers: make or buy? Which contract type fits, fixed price for clear scope, time and materials with a cap for uncertain work? And, most importantly, what's the lead time? Draw lead times backwards from the date each item is needed. Any line that crosses today means you're already late, however far away the launch looks.

3:29 Worked example one: a RACI for five decisions

Let's build a quick RACI for five decisions. Release go or no-go: product owner accountable, tech lead and QA lead responsible for the readiness evidence, security consulted, the service desk informed. Scope change beyond tolerance: sponsor accountable, project manager responsible for the impact assessment, product owner consulted. Vendor selection: here's the first draft problem. Both procurement and the IT director are marked accountable. That's two A's, which means nobody really is. We agree the IT director is accountable, procurement is responsible for running the process, and finance is consulted. Data migration sign-off: the data owner in the business is accountable, not IT. And customer communications: the marketing lead is accountable, the project manager consulted. Five rows, ten minutes, and several future arguments prevented.

4:22 Worked example two: the Dubai loyalty app

Back to the fictional Dubai retailer and its loyalty app. Resource planning showed the only two payment integration specialists were booked on another project for six weeks. So the project manager negotiated one specialist part-time, and brought in a contractor under a time and materials contract with a cap, which suited uncertain integration work while limiting cost exposure. Procurement planning showed the payment gateway onboarding had an eight-week lead time, so procurement started in week two rather than when the developers were ready for it. The launch hit the holiday season. Without those two early checks, it would have missed it, and no amount of heroics in the final month could have recovered eight weeks of onboarding.

5:13 Watch me do it: capacity and lead-time checks

Let me show you the two checks I run in the first week. First, capacity. A grid of people by week, with the percentage of each person's time assigned to each workstream. A SUM per person per week, and conditional formatting that turns anything over one hundred per cent red. It takes an hour to build and immediately shows who's double-booked. Second, procurement back-scheduling. For every item we need to buy, I list the date we need it and the realistic lead time, including contracting, security review and onboarding, not just delivery. The latest order date is the need date minus the lead time. Today's date sits at the top, so any latest order date before today flags red. In this example, the gateway onboarding is already a week late. Better to discover that in week one than in week nine.

6:14 Making communication two-way

Most communication plans only describe messages going out. The best ones build in routes for messages coming back. A champions' network, one or two trusted people in each affected team, gives you early warning of confusion or resistance. Office hours give people a low-pressure way to ask questions. Short pulse surveys after key changes, three questions at most, tell you whether a message actually landed. And then the part most projects forget: close the loop. When feedback leads to a change, say so, in a simple 'you said, we did' update. For example: you told us training sessions clashed with the evening shift, so we've moved them to mornings. Nothing builds trust faster than people seeing their feedback change something, and nothing destroys it faster than surveys that disappear into silence.

7:11 Common mistakes, and supplier relationships

The common mistakes. Plans with roles but no names, so conflicts stay hidden. Several people accountable for the same thing. RACI charts for every task, which nobody reads. Communication that only broadcasts and never listens. And managing suppliers only through the contract. Contracts matter, but relationships deliver. Plan joint planning sessions, regular performance reviews and a shared view of risks with key suppliers, and treat them as part of the team where the contract allows. A self-check: can you name the one person accountable for each key decision, the audience least well served by your current communication, and the procurement item with the least slack?

7:57 Recap and try this now

Let's recap. Plan people as carefully as tasks: named resources, capacity checked week by week, and critical skills protected. Clarify responsibilities with a RACI focused on the activities and decisions that matter, with exactly one accountable person each. Build a communication plan for each audience, including feedback loops. And plan procurement early, back-scheduling lead times from need dates, and choosing contract types that fit the certainty of the work. Your try-this-now: build a RACI for six key decisions and a communication plan for four audiences on a project you know. Then find your longest procurement lead time and work out the latest date you could start it.