The work of your project can't start until you have people. In most projects, getting the people you need can be a real challenge because you have to borrow your resources from other managers. This means you have to first convince those other managers to lend you their people.

And you have to do this FAST. If you have a 12-week project and it takes just two of those weeks for you to request borrowed resources and get them approved and freed from their current work activities … your project is 1/6 over already.

The following list contains the 5 key factors that will increase your ability to get the borrowed (matrixed) resources you need from 'regular' (line) managers:

High Priority - If your project is a very high priority, it will trump the other things the desired people are working on, and you will be able to get them taken off other work activities so they can work on your project instead.
High Impact - If your project will have a very high impact on a particular business area, even if the project's priority is not that high within the company as a whole, you will still be able to get the people you need from that business area. Plus, you may be able to win these peoples' support in persuading resource-allocators from less-impacted business areas.
High Influence - If you have an influential executive who is passionate about this project, then they can assist you in convincing, or even ordering, others to give you the resources you need.
Compelling Risk Case - If you can quantify the cost to the project of NOT getting the particular people resources you need, then that cost/benefit analysis could persuade managers and influential executives to meet your request.
Great Relationship with the line manager - In the absence of these other items, if you personally have a great relationship with desired resources' managers, you may be able to persuade them to give you the resources you need just because you support each other.

It may seem as if some, or even most, of these factors are out of your control. But don't underestimate the power and influence you have as a project manager and leader: You are the key person your company has made accountable for this project. From your role, you are best-positioned to see and understand the big picture of your project. No one else is looking at your project or looking at these factors as closely and as clearly as you. This means that while these factors may be clear to you, they may not be clear at all to other people in your company.

With this in mind, if you think you may have difficulty getting agreement to your resource requests, review this list to see which factors your project has in its favor. Then think through how to package and communicate your resource requests, so your communications highlight and take advantage of these factors.

Remember, to the managers from whom you are requesting resources, you and your project are just one of many, many items on their radar. Sometimes just stating something that seems obvious to you, is all it takes to get the support and resources you need.

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