Hi, my name is Resource. I am seventy-five percent billable.

I had lunch with a former colleague recently, and we were discussing the type of work environments that are conducive to productivity and employee retention. As a psychology major he was able to pinpoint a simple principle that I had overlooked, but that was strikingly obvious. Enlightened by his observation, I wonder now how many in my field wish to adorn a stick-on name tag, and state with anxious resolve, “Hi, my name is Resource. I am seventy-five percent billable.”

Being called a resource is an unfortunate bi-product of any client-services industry, no matter the size of the organization. Especially in Web development, the term becomes second-nature to management personnel because code maintenance is absolutely dependent on resourcing. It reminds me of the George Lucas movie THX-1138. The characters in the film roam around a dystopian underground community, subjugated to mindless work, prohibited from engaging in any activities that might give meaning to their existence.

That tends to be an exaggeration unless you work for a corporate behemoth, but there is always a level of tolerance that can be surpassed when you unrelentingly dereference a person’s given name. If this all sounds too touchy-feely for you, then you are one of the few who have not endured this hardship. If you freelance full-time, then the decision to do so was probably due in part to a project manager’s ceaseless hover and projected thoughts like no one is going to steal my resource.

Making adjustments

When I started to think through the scenarios I realized quickly that eliminating the terminology completely from the workplace would be a ridiculous request. Instead, the key is to shelter the design and development department altogether from discussions that involve resourcing. Quite frankly, I do not know a single soul who enjoys knowing exactly how their workload fits into a project plan. Acknowledging when they should start and when they should finish is enough to push responsible programmers to meet a deadline.

The problem is that project managers are taught from the outset that people are nothing but resources, and the culture of resourcing is hard to break. You have resource pools, resource availability, resource optimization, resource descriptions and resource levels. A series of spreadsheets filled with numbers and descriptions identify uniquely talented people in one broad stroke. Kicking that habit is counter-intuitive because being successful at resourcing can be an addictive game for number crunchers.

Finding people people

Preemptive measures are an even better way to troubleshoot the issue. Instead of hiring project managers who see people on paper, find project managers who are able to see people as people. This is more difficult to do since the standard of excellence is a workhorse ethic, accompanied by a whip in one hand and a PMI certificate in the other. Regardless of the ability to relate, the ability to get things done is more acceptable to the establishment. A strong track record will win praises from higher-ups, and there is a willingness to let personality conflicts slide because the client is happy.

What most corporations do not realize is that the majority of software engineers, programmers, designers and information architects are more likely to drudge through the mud with a confidant. Developing a friendship is not necessary, but knowing that a project manager is willing to go the distance and step between a nasty client and an employee demonstrates a very respected personality trait — courage. This is a human response brought on only when one individual sees another as an individual, and not a resource.

One way ticket

It would be a serious error in judgment to place all the blame on project managers. If you act like you are only a resource to an organization, then you could be partly to blame as well. If you clock in and out without any passion, feed on the status quo, and are ambivalent to poor treatment, then there is nothing to complain about — even if you did, no one would take you seriously. Being willing to constructively communicate dissatisfaction is a part of every employee’s job description, and it makes you more human, and less like a punching bag.

While working at an interactive agency that burst with the dot com bubble, a story was told to me and several others by a company salesman. He had recently arrived back from a trip to a client’s home office, and was laughing about the way the staff was treated by management. In particular, any employee who arrived late for a meeting was required to do push-ups. For each minute, one push-up was required. Suite and tie, skirt and heals, no matter the reason, push-ups were required. A friend and I lamented, if you are willing to work for a company like that without question, then the military work week is just right for you.

The illustration proves the point sufficiently. If you see yourself as a resource, then you will be treated like a resource.

Conclusions

Ultimately, there is no real statistical evidence that being called a resource is damaging to the psyche, but it is certainly worth considering the possibility. Further examination will often shed light on several problematic company policies. It still continues to amaze me how difficult this is for some businesses to figure out, and I wonder how many expensive, productivity-consuming, team-building exercises could be avoided with a healthy dose of human dignity and decency.

• Posted by Brian
• May 6th, 2008