Resource Management - Staggering Project Starts

The spike in demand for consultants, services, and products around the first of the year (or in the government’s case the beginning of October) appears to be a natural part of the business cycle. The fact that there is an onrush in spending, however, suggests the existence of an artificial driver. Truth be told, it’s the time of year when many companies replenish their budgets and subsequently start or restart their projects – all at the same time. And while there may be a certain logic to this occurrence from a dollars and cents perspective, simultaneously launching so many projects challenges the organization from a human resource perspective, namely, that there are often not enough people within the organization to staff all of these projects at the same time.