If I were to ask you what skills, presently, your IT project team has, could you open a skills matrix and show me?
Could you articulate which skills your IT projects will need in 6 or 12 months? Could you align these with your current in-house talent?
Do you know how frequently your organisation will need specific skill sets?
STOCK TAKE
A couple of years ago, in January, there was a story about London Zoo carrying out a stock take of all its animals.
Turned out, it’s an annual thing, I feel sorry for the bloke who has to count the stick insects and beetles – give me something big and slow to count – elephants would do nicely! Most firms do stock-takes of physical stock, few have the added challenge of their stock not staying still long enough to be counted!
Hearing this story, Senior Project Manager Amanda made an “off the cuff” remark that changed how her project resourcing works:
“Why don’t we do an annual skills stock-take?”
It was the first week back in January 2024, a traditionally quiet time, so that’s exactly what Amanda and her team did. they carried out and documented an audit of the skills each team member possessed, identified any skills gaps that they currently had, and tried to predict what skills would be needed across the rest of the year.
Of course, this isn’t a new idea, some project teams do carry out skills audits and all Stoneseed Project Management as a Service (PMaaS) engagements begin by working with our client to measure the resources and skills they have against what they want to achieve.
The results for Amanda and her team were worth the effort, and they carried out their skills audit once more in January 2025 – “making it annual” – she says.
“Resourcing projects without regularly checking what strengths and skills you have, or will need, can be like doing a Supermarket shop without first looking in the fridge,” she told me.
EVOLVING SKILLS
It turns out that project skills are like rabbits in a zoo stock-take, they multiply many times across the year!
Amanda told me, “The most interesting thing is that colleagues now have more skills than they did 12 months ago, we always knew this, they pick things up organically when tackling new challenges and, when we have outside talent in, they are encouraged to soak up as much knowledge as they can. The skills audit means we can quantify it and factor it into future resource allocation.”
Conducting a skills-audit benefits both you and your employees. It helps you identify skill gaps, enabling you to make informed decisions about developing talent internally or hiring externally … and … employees gain opportunities to enhance their skills, grow professionally, and advance in their careers.
Amanda also lists better employee retention, increased engagement, and boosted productivity and motivation as side benefits within her workforce.
“There’s also real value in forecasting what skills we may occasionally need over the coming months, but not frequently enough to hire someone especially. Having a plan in place earlier allows us to upskill the team or book in PMaaS resources in good time!”
LEANER AND FASTER
Your projects demand a variety of skill sets!
As your project portfolio evolves and expands, so does the expertise that you need. To add more complexity, the necessary skills can vary from one project to the next so the sooner you identify what skills you need, and when, the better you’ll be placed to do something about it!
Amanda initiating a skills stock-take has made her team more agile and efficient and, because she has an up-to-date catalogue of what her colleagues have in their locker, more cost-effective too – “why hire in a contractor to do “X” if Jim on team has become an “X” master in the last year?!”
Amanda also discovered that expenditure decisions are made more quickly, “If I ask the CFO for budget for training, or to bring in an outside resource, he knows that I need it, I mean I can literally pull out a skills matrix and point to the gap!”
The question then arises: should you bring in external specialists to bridge any knowledge and skills gaps, or expand or upskill your in-house team?
Amanda’s three preferred options are:
i) Recruit a new project manager, etc.
ii) Upskill someone from elsewhere in the business (everyone wants to be a PM, we make it look so glamourous, right?)
iii) Hire in a PMaaS resource.
OUTSIDE IN?
Retaining in-house expertise for skills that are needed less frequently can result in under utilised talent and unnecessary hires. If a skill is not required regularly, it may be difficult to justify a full-time role. In such instances, engaging an external expert is often the most practical solution, allowing you to access their services as needed without incurring ongoing costs when they are not in use.
Additionally, if the skill is unlikely to be needed frequently in the future, it may not be worth investing time and resources in upskilling existing staff.
Stoneseed’s Project Management as a Service talent (and many contractors, to be fair) keep up with the latest trends and best practices, allowing them to offer a well-developed set of skills “off-the-peg”, and their experience across diverse client organisations exposes them to a range of different experiences giving them valuable insights that you can benefit from.
Naturally, I am biased, but here are:
5 REASONS TO FILL SKILLS GAPS WITH PMaaS TALENT
1 – Cost-Effective & Flexible
Hiring full-time staff comes with long-term costs such as salaries, benefits, training, and potential redundancy costs if their skills become obsolete. You’ve also got to super-focus your recruitment drive on someone who has the actual skills your team is lacking.
PMaaS provides a cost-efficient alternative by offering access to highly skilled professionals on an as-needed basis. This means you can scale your project management resources up or down depending on demand, avoiding unnecessary overhead costs.
PMaaS eliminates the financial and administrative burden of permanent contracts, making it a more agile solution. You only pay for the expertise you need, when you need it, allowing a higher return on investment and ensuring better resource allocation.
2 – Access Expertise Immediately
Recruiting and training a new employee can be time-consuming, often taking months before they are fully integrated and productive.
PMaaS allows organisations to bypass this learning curve by bringing in professionals who are already well-versed in project management methodologies, industry best practices, and the latest tools and technologies.
With PMaaS, you gain immediate access to seasoned experts who integrate into your team, minimising delays and keeping projects on schedule. Their ability to hit the ground running ensures that your organisation maintains momentum without sacrificing quality or efficiency.
3 – Broader Experience And Fresh Perspectives
Unlike in-house staff, whose experience is often limited to a single organisation, Stoneseed’s PMaaS professionals have worked with multiple clients across different industries. This exposure allows them to bring innovative approaches, best practices, and solutions that have been tested in various environments, helping your organisation stay competitive and adaptable.
Their external perspective also means they can identify inefficiencies and offer improvements that internal teams, who may be accustomed to existing processes, might overlook. This can mean better project outcomes, more streamlined workflows, and improved strategic decision-making.
4 – Faster Implementation And Reduced Risk
Project management mistakes, like scope creep, budget overruns, missed deadlines, etc, can be costly. In-house staff with limited experience of a project type or complexity, or newly upskilled employees, can expose your project to a greater risk of errors, potentially impacting your project success.
PMaaS professionals bring a wealth of experience in managing complex projects and mitigating risks before they escalate. Organisations can improve project governance, adhere to best practices, and ensure compliance, resulting in faster project execution, greater predictability, and a higher likelihood of delivering successful outcomes.
5 – Less Disruption to Core Operations
Upskilling internal employees for project management roles requires time and resources that could be better spent on their (and your) primary responsibilities. Training can also be disruptive, pulling project management colleagues away from their daily tasks and potentially affecting productivity across the project organisation.
PMaaS allows your in-house team to remain focused on their core competencies while experienced project managers handle the complexities of project execution. This division of labour ensures that business operations continue smoothly while projects progress efficiently, reducing strain on internal resources and enhancing overall performance.
LET’S TAKE STOCK
Most businesses ready their clipboards and calculators to carry out stock-takes on their physical stock, but few take time to regularly assess and document the skills that their talent has – and measure it against current and future needs – but it is really worthwhile!
There are plenty of skills matrix templates online, or Stoneseed can do this with you, as part of the PMaaS engagement process.
Once you have collected your skills data, resourcing projects becomes a much more informed endeavour!
