The FTE method is a way to size a project team. It ensures that each team member is fully occupied with productive tasks. Project managers do this by ensuring their daily workload is as close as possible to the full-time equivalent (FTE) of eight hours a day.
This doesn’t mean each team member is expected to spend 8 hours a day just on project tasks. But their total workload, including project and non-project tasks, should add up to 8 hours per day. Otherwise, we aren’t keeping people busy.
What is FTE?
FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) is a unit of measurement. It allows us to compare workloads, reducing them to a common denominator, which is time. One FTE equals the amount of work performed by one full-time employee in a standard work period. In most cases, one FTE equals 40 hours per week.
To illustrate why FTE is a helpful concept is: Imagine you have two team members:
- Person A is working full-time (40 hours)
- Person B is working part-time (20 hours per week)
If we just looked at their hours worked, we couldn’t properly judge their productivity level.
Imagine person A worked 20 hours on project tasks and 20 hours on non-project tasks. That’s 40 hours in total for that week. Assume further Person B works 10 hours on project tasks but has no other tasks.
Person A’s total workload is 1 FTE (40 hours)
Person B’s total workload is 0.25 FTE (10 hours)
That means person A is fully utilized, but person B has capacity for more work.
The FTE Method in Action: A Project Example
We’ll use a product launch as a project example. An electronics company is launching a new device. The project is driven by product management, development, marketing and sales. These will also be the key areas represented in the team.
However, we haven’t filled these positions yet. As a project manager, our job is to create a resource plan, showing the estimated workload per area and week.
Total project duration is 6 months.
We estimated the following total capacity needed for the entire project:
| Area | Effort estimate |
|---|---|
| Product Management | 220 hours |
| Sales | 180 hours |
| Engineering | 150 hours |
| Marketing | 280 hours |
| Project Management | 100 hours |
These estimates refer to the full project. They don’t give us a picture of our team member’s actual workload on a weekly basis.
Let’s break these numbers down to a weekly level:
| Area | Total hours (entire project) | Hours per week | FTE | Adjusted FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Management | 220 | 9.17 | 0.23 | 0.25 |
| Sales | 180 | 7.50 | 0.19 | 0.20 |
| Engineering | 150 | 6.25 | 0.16 | 0.15 |
| Marketing | 280 | 11.67 | 0.29 | 0.30 |
| Project Management | 100 | 4.17 | 0.10 | 0.10 |
We calculated the hours per week by dividing the total hours by the number of weeks (in this case 4 weeks per month x 6 months = 24 weeks). For example, 220 / 24 = 9.17 hours.
We also converted the weekly hours into FTEs, assuming a standard 40-hour workweek. The results appear in the second column from the right. How did we come up with those numbers?
Take the first row, 0.23 FTE: We simply divided the 9.17 hours by 40 hours, getting us 0.229 FTE, which we rounded up to 0.23 FTE.
Adjusting the FTE values
In practice, we round the numbers to the nearest quarter point because dealing with exact fractions like 0.29 isn’t practical. That’s why the last column shows the adjusted FTEs to keep things simple.
Interpreting the numbers
What do the FTE numbers tell us?
Let’s look at the Product Management role:
We estimated a resource requirement of 0.25 FTE for this position, which works out to about 10 hours per week (0.25 x 40 hours). These are gut feel estimates. Some weeks, the workload might be higher, while other weeks it could be lighter—it’s meant to average out over time.
For the Sales role, we estimated a resource requirement of 0.20 FTE. In other words, our Sales colleague will be spending about one full working day (8 hours) each week on our project.
Using FTE numbers to staff your project team
You’ve estimated the workload for each project role and converted those numbers to FTE, just like in the table above. Now what?
Step 1: Collaborate with Area Leads
Start by meeting with the leads from each area. Share your numbers and ask them to assign team members who have the capacity to support your project. The company’s goal is clear: ensure everyone is fully occupied and no time goes to waste.
At the same time, area leads need to balance priorities. They must make sure all ongoing initiatives are properly staffed, not just yours. It might take them some time to review capacity, evaluate different scenarios, and identify someone with the right skills to join your team.
Step 2: Deal with Resource Realities
The resource situation will determine how your project team shapes up. Here are some possibilities:
- Ideal Scenario: You get the right person with the right skills for the exact hours you need.
- Capacity Bottlenecks: Some areas may not have the bandwidth to provide the requested FTE. They might only contribute part of the capacity (e.g., 0.10 FTE instead of 0.20) or be available only during specific periods.
When resources are tight, you’ll need to get creative:
- Reallocate Work: If the Sales team can only provide 0.10 FTE instead of 0.20, perhaps the Marketing resource can take on some of the Sales-related tasks, assuming they have extra capacity.
- Split the Role: If your go-to engineer is unavailable, consider assigning a less experienced engineer (e.g., contributing 0.15 FTE) and pairing them with the senior engineer for mentorship.
Project staffing is never perfect! You’ll often need to get creative and find workarounds to make things work.
The key is starting with a solid workload estimate and FTE calculation. It’s clear, easy to explain, and makes staffing discussions much smoother for everyone involved.
Conclusion
Right-sizing a project team is like figuring out a puzzle. The FTE method helps by turning all roles into a common measure: time. It’s not 100% precise, but it gives you a clear way to balance workloads and make sure everyone is being used effectively. It’s a simple tool to keep the team productive and the project on track.
