What is Resource Optimization and why is it important for creative teams?

Time is money, talent is gold. That is the essence of resource optimization. We’re speaking about a process which allocates and utilises your people in the most effective and efficient way possible. Resource optimization can help boost the output of any team working on a creative project. The following article will help you understand what this is and how you can use it to your advantage!

What Is Resource Optimization?

Resource optimization is an attempt to change how you apportion and use your tools and resources. Over time, this can help you improve performance in your organization. Examples of doing this include:

• Trying to spend less time on unimportant tasks
• Ensuring you spend money in the right places
• Having the right team members in the right places
• Getting everyone the tools they need to succeed without overspending

The process involves first identifying and then resolving these issues, as well as ensuring you track any gains in speed. This way you can know you have made the right decision. It can be an iterative process, and as such you may not see all the results straight away, but instead they may appear slowly over time.

This is very important for creative teams as they often have important deadlines and many people waiting on their output. This output also needs to be of a high quality so others can use it to create products.

By running through the process of resource optimization, you can improve the performance of such teams. You can then ensure their work delivers on time every time.

How Can Optimization Help Creative Teams?

By implementing a system by which you focus on resource optimization, you can start to discover a lot of the places you are wasting resources. These might be wasted time, inefficient processes, or poorly-performing staff.

Instead, by trying to increase workplace productivity, you can start to reduce the costs of every piece of work you do. You can also improve cross-team communication in general by allowing everyone to focus only on the most necessary things.

With a lack of obstacles in the way, a creative team can start to innovate far faster than they ever have before. You will find their output, not only in terms of work but in new directions, for thought, increases several fold as they have room to spread their wings.

How to Work Out Where to Optimize

The first thing you should do is analyze your current team’s workflow. 

Start by creating a flow chart of their processes and investigating every step they take. Learn how an idea goes from conception to final delivery, as well as what resources you need to go into every stage.

With this information, you can then start to work out where bottlenecks are in the process. Track employee performance across each area and find where inefficiencies or distractions occur.

You can then analyze possible areas you might want to improve, working out where resources are placed and also where you might want them instead.

How to Optimize

As you learn more about your business operations, you will have found areas that could see improvement. Take up the following methods to resolve some of these. Please note, though, this list is not exhaustive.

Improve Workflow

Some ideas for how to improve your workflow might include:

Standardize your workflow. Ensure everyone uses the same, clear process for the same task. Not only is this easier for everyone to learn, but you can also track work easier and make changes based on what you learn.

Automate where possible. Few parts of creative work are automatable. Still, look for places where you can speed up processes by taking them out of human hands.

Reduce distractions. Give your team specific times when they will not receive interruptions and create an environment where they can work in peace.

Manage Your Budget

The first thing you will need to do here is to understand where the money is going and why. Once you do this, instead of allowing all spending, try to prioritize where the money goes instead. Make sure those who need it the most have it.

You should also look at the return on investment every time you spend money. Do not put more money into things if you do not get a measurable return. Though, be aware that some areas, such as marketing, do not have measurable returns.

Prioritize Important Tasks

This can free up resources by only focusing on the things that need to be done sooner rather than later. To work out which tasks would be the most important, consider your organization’s goals as a whole. What tasks help further that goal to the greatest extent?

Consider working with the stakeholders here. Your priorities may be very different from theirs, and the last thing you want to do is disappoint them.

As these tasks end, continue to iterate on what you consider to be the most important. You may have different priorities as they start to resolve.

Useful Tools to Nurture Optimized Creativity

One of the most effective tools you can have in your arsenal is a resource management solution. You can use this to track tasks as people complete them and then measure how effective the work was. By seeing how long it takes to complete each task and the RoI on each, you can start to see if you need to refocus elsewhere.

Another essential application is some kind of creative collaboration tool. You can empower your workers to communicate more freely, allowing them to work faster on complex tasks. This helps save time when it comes to moving around or having complicated meetings that might waste time.

Learn More About Resource Optimization

These tips should help you be well on your way to a future where resource optimization is at the heart of your process. Still, you might want to learn a bit more about how it and other concepts can help you as you move forward.

Screendragon specialize in providing the advice and tools necessary to bring your organization’s potential to light. You only need to speak to our specialists and they can help you get started. So, get in contact and learn how to optimize your resources today!