If only real life had cheat codes for unlimited resources, project management would be a breeze. But, sadly, this isn’t the world we live in. In the real world, budgets, deadlines, and limited resources are the name of the game. And it’s up to you to work within these constraints to deliver successful outcomes.

Luckily, you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. Resource management software offers a way to track, schedule, and optimize your project resources. And some of the most popular project management tools on the market, including Trello, ClickUp, and Asana, pack compelling resource planning features.

With this in mind, let’s dive into what you need to know about resource management in project management and the tools that can help keep you on track.

What is Resource Management Software? And Why is it so important?

Every project requires a multitude of tasks, and all of them demand resources. That’s where resource planning comes in – allocating available resources to each task. Resource management software helps project managers keep track of human resources, raw materials, and equipment needed to complete the project on time and on budget.

Resource management centers around three primary techniques:

Resource allocation: Involves distributing and utilizing resources efficiently to ensure that the right resources are available for the job at hand and work is completed in a timely manner.
Resource leveling: Aims to avoid shortages or overabundance of resources by spreading them out evenly and determining realistic deadlines and workloads for the team.
Resource forecasting: Involves planning ahead for needed resources in upcoming projects, determining when to invest in or cut resources, and preparing for potential changes in the project scope or timeline.

But to drive home how vital resource planning is, let’s look at what projects look like without it. Let’s say a team of developers is working on a shiny new app, but the project manager doesn’t assign enough developers to tackle the critical components. Cue delays, missed deadlines, and team burnout from working overtime. Productivity plummets, costs skyrocket, and competitors swoop in and steal the market share. The result? A failed project and a missed opportunity.

And the statistics back this up. In one survey, 60% of respondents identified poor resource management as their biggest project management challenge.¹ According to another study across multiple organizations, 11.4% of all resources are wasted due to inferior project management processes.²

Yet, despite these challenges, a good chunk of businesses still aren’t using resource planning software. In fact, an eye-watering 35% of project managers still use MS Excel to build resource plans.³

So, what should you be using instead?

Best Project Management Tools For Resource Management

Most businesses prefer an all-in-one project management tool to using multiple tools, which can cause issues with compatibility and lost information. That’s why here I’m focusing on the best resource management software already integrated into popular project management tools, Trello, ClickUp, and Asana. Let’s dive in!

Trello

Trello is a versatile project management tool that can help project managers manage resources effectively. Here are some ways that Trello can help with resource management.⁴

Distributed Workloads

Trello enables teams to track and assign tasks in a more organized way, helping keep the workload manageable. Trello’s Table view enables teams to track workload and tasks both on a team-wide and individual level, providing a high-level overview. It also allows filtering by lists, labels, members, and due dates for a more individualized look at resource availability. In Timeline view, teams can stay on top of projects and sprints with a clear visual layout, making it easy to adjust due dates and reallocate tasks to better align with available resources as circumstances change.

Improved Communication

Trello keeps information and resources in one centralized location, increasing visibility and enabling efficient collaboration across teams and departments. Customizable boards, cards, and labels allow teams to organize important information and make it accessible to everyone.⁵

And by dedicating a workspace as a knowledge hub, employees can share expertise and relevant information quickly, which helps to avoid duplicating efforts. Similarly, creating a workspace that outlines employee names, contact information, work schedules, time off, and other vital details simplifies scheduling and aligns workload capacity across the team.

Our Take

From team collaboration to resource prioritization, Trello’s project management tools have everything you need to succeed. Get more done with Trello’s intuitive resource management tools, designed to simplify and enhance your workflow.

Try Trello

Automated Tasks

Trello’s built-in automation and integrations enable teams to make the most of one of the most important resources—time—by eliminating repetitive tasks. Using Butler, teams can automate almost any task in Trello, helping to minimize repetitive work and keep tasks moving forward. For example, teams can set up triggers to move cards to different boards or automatically adjust due dates. Setting up the right automation can save teams a lot of time throughout the day and allow them to focus and work more efficiently.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a comprehensive productivity platform that streamlines work processes and simplifies resource management. Here are some of ClickUp’s tools for resource management:

ClickUp’s all-in-one platform helps eliminate work silos and reportedly saves one day each week by replacing inflexible and overlapping tools.
Tasks, subtasks, and checklists break down projects into smaller, manageable parts and make it easy to assign tasks to team members.
Timeline view allows you to plan your work over time and create visual roadmaps, while Workload view helps you monitor your team’s work capacity and manage resources. You can measure capacity in terms of hours, tasks, points, or custom fields.⁶
Dashboards give you insights into sprints, projects, people, statuses, and more. You can use cards like Burndown, Burnup, Velocity, and Cumulative Flow to visualize task progression and team performance.

Our Take

ClickUp is a versatile project management platform for teams that need a customizable and feature-rich tool with an intuitive interface.

Try ClickUp

Box view is a unique feature that allows you to manage resources visually and drag and drop tasks to different resources. You can measure workload and capacity based on the number of tasks completed, time estimated, or Agile/scrum points.
You can view profiles to get a snapshot of a team member’s completed and ongoing tasks, helping you manage your team’s time more effectively.

ClickUp is a comprehensive productivity platform that offers tools for resource management. It is an all-in-one platform that eliminates work silos, saving one day each week by replacing inflexible and overlapping tools. Tasks, subtasks, and checklists break down projects into smaller, manageable parts and make it easy to assign tasks to team members. Timeline view allows for visual roadmaps, while Workload view helps monitor the team’s work capacity and manage resources. Dashboards give insights into sprints, projects, people, statuses, and more, allowing users to visualize task progression and team performance.

Asana

Asana packs many of the same project management and resource management capabilities as Trello and ClickUp but offers something else – resource management templates.⁷ These reusable templates allow you to track your team’s workload, identify potential bottlenecks, and ensure that everyone is on track to meet project deadlines.

Some of the key features and benefits of Asana’s resource management templates include:

The ability to see your team’s entire workload in one place allowing you to quickly identify potential resource constraints and allocate work accordingly.
Visual representations of your team’s bandwidth and available resources over time, making it easy to track progress and adjust plans as necessary.
You can update tasks, deadlines, and priorities in real-time, allowing you to manage your team’s workload and adjust plans as needed.
A Gantt chart view that shows how long tasks will take in relation to your project timeline, helping you to manage dependencies and avoid potential blockers.
Color-coding of tasks by effort, providing an at-a-glance view of how much bandwidth each task requires.

Our Take

Asana is a collaborative project management platform for teams that need a centralized and organized tool with a range of project tracking and reporting features.

Try Asana

You can share your template with stakeholders, allowing you to demonstrate how additional requests may impact your team’s workload.
Integrated features such as Timeline View, custom fields, dependencies, and start dates, all of which help you to manage your team’s workload and optimize productivity.

Final Thoughts

Alarmingly, 40% of workers believe burnout is an inevitable part of success.⁸ But the truth is overworked employees don’t perform at their best, and pushing them (or yourself) to the brink of exhaustion will eventually backfire. This is what resource management is all about – taking control of your team’s schedule to ensure everyone has the time to focus on what’s important. Or, in other words, it’s the key to preventing both overwork and underwork. I hope by reading this, you have a clearer idea of what resource plan software is right for your business.

Resource Management Software: Which Tool Is Best for Your Business Needs?

What is Resource Management Software? And Why is it so important?

Best Project Management Tools For Resource Management