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When building out project plans, do you ever say to yourself “I’m not sure who yet will take on this work, but I just know I need a Senior Designer.”? You’re looking for some way to map out and quantify the work, but you don’t want to get caught up in the details of team assignment?
Enter Placeholders—a project-specific, Role-based unnamed resource that allows you to plan work without needing to assign a specific person right away. Instead of focusing on individuals, with Placeholders you can plan based on the expertise needed for the project first, and then transfer the work to a named resource when the time is right.
From temporary to permanent—how to use Placeholders in 4 easy steps
A much nicer term than a dummy person, Placeholders give you the freedom and flexibility to explore potential resourcing scenarios so you can have the utmost confidence when translating plans into actuals.
1: Housed in the Resource Scheduler, Placeholders can be added under each project in the Project tab, or under Roles in the People tab. When adding a Placeholder, you will see your library of current Roles to choose from. If you’ve not yet created the Role the Placeholder needs to hold, you can add it seamlessly.
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2: Once the Placeholder has been created, they will appear underneath the project, grouped within the Role, and you can begin assigning allocations to them.
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3: Once plans are finalized and the work is confirmed, transfer the work from a Placeholder and assign it to an actual member of your team.
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4: A window will appear where you can transfer the work. The people shown will share the same Role of the Placeholder, so you’re choosing from a short list of people with matching skills. It will also show their capacity, so you know who is actually available. Remove filters to include teammates outside of the chosen Role, or search for a similar Role if they can take on the work.
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With just a couple clicks, you’ve slotted the desired team member into the work and the allocation will automatically appear on the timeline assigned to them. Easy at that!
Placeholders could be your missing puzzle piece
Here are some ways that Placeholders can help your big picture take shape.
Keep capacity and timelines in check
Start resourcing at a high level and understand how it affects capacity and if timelines are realistic
Stop over-allocating resources by directly mapping Placeholder work to the most suitable resource pending their availability
To hire or not to hire
If no one is available to take on the work, keep the Placeholder to imitate what a new hire would be like
Start allocating work to a Placeholder in preparation for an approved hire so you are ready in advance
Big picture planning to smooth execution
Plan the big picture, test things out, and trial scenarios so you confidently and smoothly move from the planning phase to execution
Adjust details as the projects take shape and sign off only when you’re comfortable
Placeholders are available to users on Scale subscription. Want to take advantage of this feature? Drop a quick note to sales@teamwork.com and we’ll be in touch!
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