In our work, this problem is the most common bottleneck for technical companies. The root causes are as follows:

1. Most companies do not have a valid capacity model for R&D. If they do try to account for the human resources, they often do it on a "best possible scenario" basis (no schedule slippage or uncertainties in the development program). When projects slip or resources are pulled away for other reasons – as always happens – no attempt is made to redistribute resources or reset expectations until the next annual planning cycle.
   
2. R&D managers try to operate their labs at close to 100% capacity. Manufacturing managers know that this is a recipe for very long cycle times and disaster (Little’s Law). To get products developed rapidly, managers should plan to operate at about 80% of maximum capacity. But most managers fall to the temptation of putting the extra 20% (and more) of "idle" bodies to work on all those other projects.
   
3. Often the portfolio of projects – or "slate" – is set once per year during a planning period. Resources are allocated to department and project managers at that time. In many cases, the department manager is then free to redistribute his/her own quota of resources within the department – there is no accountability for fulfilling the original slate.
   
4. In other cases, there are two different processes for obtaining project resources: One is the normal planning and "slate" cycle, and the other is to come back later to convince the big boss that your project is really more important than others on the slate. Many people are more comfortable dealing one-on-one in the back room than putting their projects out for public scrutiny and ranking.

Thus the major causes for the "too many projects" scenario are:

• Inadequate or no capacity model
• The attempt to maximize resource utilization instead of minimizing lead time
• Lack of accountability for fulfilling the slate
• Back-room tactics to staff pet projects
• Lack of a robust and continuous project portfolio planning and execution process

The senior management and leadership teams may be otherwise competent and well meaning, but they do not always have the process tools and discipline to do overall resource management well.

Scott Elliott is a conference faculty member and will be leading a pre-conference workshop on Building the Virtual Resource Pipeline: Extending Your High-Tech Resources Beyond
Company and Geographic Boundaries