Rethinking Resource Planning: Why Projects Start with Skills

On 7 May 2026, Can Do joined projektmagazin for an online presentation. Thomas Schlereth, Managing Director of Can Do, explained why modern resource planning needs to go well beyond assigning individual people to tasks.

The central question was: “Which skills will we need, when will we need them, and how can we plan for them effectively?” Traditional resource planning is increasingly reaching its limits in many organisations. Projects are planned in isolation, resources are allocated only as percentages, or plans are maintained in parallel Excel files. The presentation showed why modern planning needs to connect different levels, from strategic portfolio planning to assigning people to work in active projects.

What the presentation covered

Thomas Schlereth explored the following topics:

• Typical problems with traditional resource planning in organisations
• Why knowing who does what, and when, is the foundation of every plan
• The differences between planning with named people, generic resources, roles and skills
• How to combine different planning levels effectively:
  • Strategic portfolio planning
  • Long-term role and skill planning
  • Operational phase planning
  • Short-term assignment of individual people
• How organisations can systematically build a skills framework
• The role that AI and modern algorithms could play in resource planning in the future
• Live examples of how these approaches work in Can Do

Presentation recording

The original presentation was delivered in German. An English recording is not currently available.

Presentation slides

The PowerPoint slides accompanied the presentation. An English version of the downloadable slides is not currently available.

Conclusion

Resource planning increasingly combines strategic skill planning with the operational assignment of individual people. Organisations need transparent skills frameworks, realistic capacity models and the flexibility to connect different planning levels.

Thank you to everyone who attended the projektmagazin presentation for your interest and the engaging discussions.

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