Technical projects are rarely delayed because of a lack of ambition. More often, challenges arise when the organisation does not have access to the necessary expertise at the point when the project needs it.
It may be an automation specialist, an experienced electrical engineer, a process engineer, a technical designer or a project manager with the right industry experience.
When critical expertise is missing, the consequences can quickly be felt elsewhere in the project.
Competence Requirements Change Throughout a Project
A technical project does not necessarily require the same expertise from start to finish.
During one phase, the need may be concentrated around engineering and design. Later, the focus may shift to automation, installation, commissioning or validation. Changes to the project schedule can also mean that additional resources are suddenly required.
This makes it difficult to maintain a permanent organisation that always matches the requirements of the project portfolio.
The result can be periods with insufficient capacity – and other periods where certain competences are underutilised.
Lack of Capacity Affects More Than the Schedule
When a critical technical competence is missing, the problem is rarely limited to one task.
Other specialists may have to wait. Project managers spend time reallocating resources. Existing employees take on additional responsibilities, and activities that should have been carried out in parallel may instead have to be completed sequentially.
As a result, one missing specialist can develop into a genuine project bottleneck.
This is particularly relevant in a labour market where companies continue to experience difficulties accessing certain technical skills.
Permanent Recruitment Is Not Always the Fastest Solution
The traditional response to insufficient capacity is to recruit another permanent employee.
That is often the right solution when the requirement is permanent. However, project requirements are frequently temporary or difficult to predict.
If a particular competence is primarily needed for six, nine or twelve months, bringing in an interim specialist may be a more appropriate solution.
This enables the organisation to increase its technical capacity when the project requires it without necessarily expanding the permanent organisation to the same extent.
A More Flexible Technical Organisation
The technical organisation of the future is therefore likely to consist of different types of resources.
The permanent organisation will continue to provide the foundation, maintaining core competences, continuity and organisational knowledge. Around this core, companies can supplement their teams with technicians, engineers and specialists on an interim basis when projects or peak workloads require additional capacity.
The decisive factor will not necessarily be how many technical employees a company has on its permanent payroll.
It will increasingly be how quickly the organisation can mobilise the right technical expertise at the right time.
Because in complex technical projects, access to expertise is not simply a staffing issue.
It can determine how quickly a project can be delivered.