A simple view of the whole portfolio
I keep a spreadsheet with all the resources and how much each one is allocated on each project. I have used it across a pool of about 20 people. It is not sophisticated, but it answers three questions at a glance: who is full, who has room, and when that changes.
People are the rows, projects are the columns, and the cells show the share of each person's time. The discipline is in keeping it current. A stale spreadsheet is worse than none, because it gives a false sense of control, so I keep it up to date.
Know what is coming
Current allocation is only half of the picture. I stay in contact with the sales team, so I know which new projects are in the pipeline before they arrive. A probable project is not a promise, so I mark it as probable. But it lets me see a gap or a crunch weeks ahead, when there is still room to react.
In the fixed-price division I led, this forward view was part of how bench time stayed at zero while billability grew year on year.
When a senior developer was under strain
A senior developer on a demanding client project once came to me under visible strain and frustration. Losing that person, or burning them out, would have hurt the project and the team at the same time.
Because I was doing resource planning across the whole pool, I could see where help existed. I brought in another senior developer from a project where planning and status were more comfortable, and took the pressure off the first one. Nobody had to be told to work harder. Someone only had to see the whole portfolio and move a person.
A person under pressure usually shows it before the schedule does. The mood changes first, then the quality of the conversations, and only later does a date slip. If resource management only watches dates, it notices too late.
Resource management is also people care.
This is also why I prefer to see the portfolio as one thing. Each project manager sees their own project, and each one has a good reason to protect their own people. Someone has to look across all of them and ask where a hand is needed most.
It also changes how I talk to the project managers. Instead of asking for more people in general, we can look at the same picture and agree where a person is best placed for the next few weeks.
The next step
The next step I have in mind is to replace the spreadsheet with a custom web app, so the same picture is easier to share and to keep current. I have not built it yet. The purpose would stay the same: see everyone, see what is coming, and act before a person or a project pays for a surprise.