Its bad enough that people in the corporate environment - and i mean real people, with hopes, dreams, talents and ambitions - get reduced to being nothing more then a 'resource'. We occupy a column in MS Project alongside projectors, white boards and meeting rooms.

But i've just realised a disturbing new trend. We're not even individual 'resources' anymore. I just overheard someone in the kitchen say "...but there's not enough resource", referring to software developers. Note that the singular was deliberate and, now i think of it, its become common usage. Using a singular to refer to a collective indicates that each element of the collective is individually irrelevant and indistinguishable from the others. Its like saying "we need more sand" - you're obviously not interested in which particular grains of sand you get.

But the reality is that no software project ever needs "more resource". "More resource" means putting anyone on any job. It means favouring skill (or the appearance of skill) over talent. It means inefficiency. "More resource" is what gets projects into trouble. What gets projects out of trouble is the opposite, ie the right person for the right job.

If what you need is someone bold who can blast their way through the faf and get things done, but instead you get someone cautious you'll actually be worse off. Similarly if you need to take the quality of your product to the next level but get in a cowboy you'll be worse off. If the current team is dysfunctional and riven by conflict, and then you add a few new guys, well those new guys had better be close relatives of Gandhi or the whole project will disappear in an explosion of tribal warfare. Having the insight to determine what sort of person is needed is what makes a project manager great. Lacking that insight can squander the efforts of many talented individuals.

So don't talk about people as 'resources' and certainly not as 'resource'. If you really are the sort of persion who considers the human element then make it obvious. It will add credibility to your decisions. If you don't think about the human element - do so.

Cheers,
VFC1206

(not my real login name, but close to it)