Project staffing: the right specialist for each phase of the work

Projects don't need the same people from start to finish. A product launch might need a researcher for three weeks, a designer for six, an engineer for four months and a copywriter for the final ten days. Project staffing is the discipline of matching those people to the phases that need them.

This section covers how to plan staffing around deliverables instead of headcount. We look at how to write project briefs that specialists can quote against, and how to bring people in without derailing the team already there. We also cover fixed-cost projects, cost tracking, structured check-ins and the handover work that keeps knowledge from leaving when a contract ends.

It's written for project managers, agency owners, operations leads and the specialists who move from project to project. If you've ever watched a good contractor arrive two weeks before the brief was ready, or leave before the documentation was done, this section is for you.

We focus on structure and communication rather than tools, though we'll review tools when they genuinely help.