Schedule · tool 6 of 7
Resource Levelling and Smoothing
Resource Levelling and Smoothing: makes the plan possible for the people who must do it.
Best for: After the first schedule draft · Time: 1 hour
Domain: Schedule · Focus area: Planning
How it works
A plan can be logically sound and still ask one person to work 80 hours in a week. Levelling moves tasks to fit availability, and may extend the end date. Smoothing does it within available float, so that the end date holds.
- Check load per person, not per team.
- Levelling can change the critical path.
- Plan under 100%: meetings and support are real.
How to apply it
- Chart workload per person by week.
- Find the peaks.
- Move non-critical tasks into float.
- Extend the date or add help if peaks remain.
Ana is at 140% in week 6. Moving a non-critical review into week 7 brings her to 95%.
Planning people at 80% isn’t laziness. It’s accepting what the week actually contains.
Use it
- Playbook: The team is burning out
Quick check
Which method keeps the end date fixed?
Sources
- PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition, and The Standard for Project Management (PMI, 2025)
Last reviewed 2026-11-02 against the PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition · Practitioner review pending · How this guide is made