Software Development Resource Plan
This is a practical guide to building a resource plan for a software development project — the people and resources needed, when, and how they are allocated, adapted to the realities of building and shipping a software product or feature set.
What a Resource Plan is
A resource plan is the people and resources needed, when, and how they are allocated. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Resource Planning. On a software development project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Software Development project
Software Development projects live or die on building and shipping a software product or feature set. A well-built resource plan gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how software development projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Roles and skills needed
- Allocation over time
- Capacity vs demand
- Resource calendar
Software Development-specific considerations
Tailor the resource plan to the risks that most often derail software development projects:
- Scope creep
- Technical debt slowing delivery
- Third-party dependency risk
Example
On a real software development project, the resource plan would be shaped by building and shipping a software product or feature set. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — scope creep, technical debt slowing delivery, third-party dependency risk — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.