Resolve a resource conflict between two projects
A fair comparison of competing demands for the same people, with options and a recommendation leaders can decide on.
The prompt
Help me resolve a resource conflict between two (or more) projects that need the same people.
The people or skills in contention: [ROLES or names, and their available capacity]
Project A: [goal, deadline, priority ranking if any, what they need and when]
Project B: [same details]
Impact of losing the resource on each: [delay, cost, risk]
Who has authority to decide: [portfolio board, functional manager, sponsor]
Alternatives I know about: [contractors, other teams, re-sequencing, partial allocation]
Steps:
1. Lay out the demand clearly: who needs what, when, and for how long - week by week if possible.
2. Compare the projects on strategic priority, deadline hardness (regulatory or contractual vs. internal), cost of delay, and dependency on this specific person.
3. Generate options: split allocation, sequence the work, backfill with contractors, cross-train, reduce scope on one project, or escalate for a priority call.
4. Point out the hidden cost of splitting someone across projects (context switching typically loses real productivity).
Rules: stay neutral between the projects and their managers. Do not invent impact figures; mark gaps with [ADD].
Return:
1. A one-paragraph summary of the conflict.
2. An options table: option | impact on A | impact on B | cost | risk.
3. My recommended option and why.
4. A message to the decision maker asking for a priority call.
5. Talking points for the conversation with the other project manager.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Leadership & Management prompts
What to fill in
- ROLES or names, and their available capacity
- same details
- delay, cost, risk
- portfolio board, functional manager, sponsor
- contractors, other teams, re-sequencing, partial allocation
- ADD
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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