Workload Forecasting: Simple & Effective Methods

As the nights grow longer and the leaves crunch underfoot, I find myself embracing the Autumnal witchiness by whipping out my crystal ball for a bit of forecasting – workload forecasting, to be precise. While I might dabble in wily wiccan ways, particularly at this time of year, I know you’re seeking far more reliable and tangible methods to foretell the future.

After all, without accurate workload forecasting methods in place, how else are you going to predict the resources needed for any given project? How can you allocate sufficient time, and meet deadlines, all while keeping employees happy? You know as well as I do that unmanageable workloads are a significant contributor to burnout, not to mention the resulting risk of dissatisfied clients. 

In this blog, we’ll explore the concept of workload forecasting and suggest simple methods to apply it to your business. 

What is workload forecasting anyway?

Simply put: workload forecasting is a process whereby you predict the future demands on resources – be they human, technological, or material. You do that by analyzing and leveraging your historical data. 

As for the process itself? Well, we could get super granular about it – delving into the complexities of forecasting methodologies involving advanced AI models and specialized software to help manage dynamic workflows – but that’s not our bag. At Memtime, we’re more about practical, easy-to-implement techniques that large teams can adopt quickly.

Before we get to our talisman of tips and tricks, you should be aware of what effective workload forecasting looks like. In essence, it should:

The ultimate goal is to improve visibility over your team’s actual workload, bolster resource management, and increase utilization.

Establishing if you need workload forecasting

The short answer is, of course, YES. In the event you’re thinking, “Well, of course you’re going to say that”, consider the below hypothetical use cases for service businesses which may resonate with you.

Marketing

Let’s say you’re a marketing agency that has peak seasons. You would benefit from workload forecasting to establish and define the demand on your services at any given time of year. This way you can plan and allocate resources effectively.

Consulting

The plight of the consultant is juggling several different clients, with varying needs, simultaneously. Workload forecasting allows you to accurately predict the demand for consulting hours/expertise. This way, you can ensure that consultants are not overbooked and can provide quality service to each client. For example, if a new regulatory change is on the horizon, you can forecast an increase in demand for compliance consulting and prep your team accordingly.

Software development

Let me guess; you often face fluctuating workloads based on diverse project timelines and client needs. In this instance, workload forecasting helps you anticipate when you might need additional developers. For example, if a major client is planning a new software release, the agency can forecast the workload and hire additional freelance developers/testers, or redistribute tasks among existing employees.

Creatives

You find yourself predicting the demand for various related services – like video/editing production, graphic design, and/or content creation. By analyzing past, present, and anticipated trends – alongside that all-important client behavior – you can ensure your teams are not stretched, thus maintaining high-quality output. For example, if a surge in video content requests is expected, you can plan to have more video editors available.

Now that we’ve addressed the overall need for effective workload forecasting across professional services, let’s have a look at how you can start implementing it into your business. 

Leveraging time data for effective workload forecasting

This is the foundation of all effective workload forecasting. Without understanding the actual time spent/needed on various tasks, how else are you going to create reliable forecasts based on reality?!

For anyone requiring further convincing; by analyzing past data, project managers can identify patterns and trends that inform more accurate predictions of future workloads and timelines. 

This data-driven approach helps to: 

As for the best practices for using historical time tracking data? Below are four pointers you need to nail in order to leverage your historical data effectively.

1. Data quality: If your time tracking data isn’t accurate, consistent, or detailed, it’s less than pointless. Make it your mission to ensure it’s of a high caliber, otherwise it will render the following points redundant.
   
2. Data analysis: Now that you’re armed with comprehensive and reliable historical data, use the appropriate tools and techniques to analyze it for patterns and meaningful insights.
   
3. Benchmarking: By comparing your project performance against industry benchmarks you can pinpoint areas for improvement. Say it with me – “there are always areas for improvement.”
   
4. Review continuously: Once you’ve got a process to successfully leverage your historical data, you need to review it – regularly. Nothing ever stays the same, so you must review and adjust project planning strategies based on emerging trends alongside anything you’ve learned along the way. 

Simple methods for implementing workload forecasting 

As I mentioned, there are advanced forecasting methods, AI models, and specialized software available. While they provide highly accurate predictions by analyzing large datasets and identifying patterns, the results may not be immediately evident – or create the required impact from the offset. They can also be complex and require significant investment in time and resources. 

So, in addition to defining the KPIs that will help you measure workload and leverage your historical data, here are some further simple and actionable methods in terms of implementing workload forecasting. 

1. Keep stakeholders in the loop

Much like gathering and leveraging data, you need to gain pivotal insights from those around you. To get a clear picture of future workloads, you should regularly liaise with project managers, team leads, and other stakeholders to hear their thoughts and insights – like discussing upcoming projects and initiatives that might affect the workload. You should incorporate this feedback to further refine your forecasting process.

2. Prioritize tasks accordingly

For task prioritization, use simple techniques – like the Eisenhower Matrix (that being urgent vs. important) to determine which tasks need immediate attention and which can be scheduled later.

3. Engage in capacity planning

This involves assessing your team’s current capacity and comparing it to the forecasted workload. To implement this, list all available resources – including team members, hours, and skills – and match them against the expected tasks. You might also try your hand at scenario planning. By developing multiple scenarios, you can assess the potential impacts of different factors on your workload. It might seem like extra work initially but it will be worth it in the long run.

4. Share your forecasts

There’s no point keeping them to yourself, is there?! Therefore, make sure that key stakeholders have access to the forecasted workload information. Moreover, use clear and visually appealing methods, like charts or graphs, to present the forecasts in an easily digestible format. Use the mantra, “One story, one chart, one page.” Just because it sometimes feels like you’re swimming in data, that doesn’t mean you invite everyone into the pool with you. Instead, tailor and refine your findings for whomever is reading. 

5. Validate your forecasts

By comparing your forecasted workload with actual results, you can identify any discrepancies. Use this information to continuously iterate and improve your models, incorporating stakeholder feedback and emerging trends to enhance your forecasting precision over time.

6. Monitor, review, and adjust

Being proactive about it helps to ensure that your resources are used efficiently and that your team's workload doesn’t snowball out of control. As such, adjust assignments as needed to ensure no one is overburdened.

7. Leverage technology

Utilizing simple forecasting tools and software will streamline the process and improve accuracy.

Wrapping up

Complacency is the death knell of many good processes. This is particularly true in terms of workload forecasting. You may feel like you’re delving into the unknown, wish-casting, and manifesting something seemingly intangible into fruition, but successfully leveraging your historical data will dispel any notion of that.

In terms of how Memtime can help to collate your precious data; it gives insight into team members’ past project hours, making forecasting easier. It integrates smoothly with project management tools for seamless exporting of these hours by employees, which they create as time entries. 

For example, at a basic level, you can see what I’ve been beavering away on while collating this article. 

As an individual user, you can download and share Memtime’s custom time reports with project managers – if you wish. This data isn’t exported to external software and supervisors don’t get aggregate reports, its mission is to help employees better assess their workloads using real data. In fact, Memtime is designed to be the opposite of an employee monitoring tool. We’re more about empowering employees to the better benefit of all. 

Workload forecasting further fosters this culture of transparency and accountability within an organization. By having a clear understanding of what lies ahead, employees can better manage their time and expectations, leading to improved performance and job satisfaction. It also enables managers to set more realistic goals and deadlines, which always helps to avoid the dreaded burnout. 

In today’s ever-evolving business landscape, the ability to be agile – to adapt and adopt quickly to changing demands – is a huge competitive advantage. Workload forecasting gives organizations the insights needed to navigate these changes more readily. As businesses continue to advance, particularly in terms of integrating tools into their processes, the importance of effective workload forecasting cannot be overstated. 

We hope you feel better equipped to kick off your magical journey with workload forecasting. Consider it a necessary step towards honing a more efficient, balanced, and forward-thinking organization.