Utility Infielders on Projects?

On a typical enterprise level project, we can plan out the major bodies of work and staff them with the available resources.  That is the easy part!  How do we complete all the last minute tasks or unplanned tasks that crop up everyday.  Tasks like supporting the installation of the software in the development environment, analyzing new requirements and preparing change requests, providing additional training in some detailed area of the solution, etc.  How do we handle these additional unplanned tasks that can occur in any functional or technical area of the project?

Perhaps, we take the lead from Major League Baseball.  Managers run into situations where a player is injured or they make a late inning double switch and now need an extra third baseman, right fielder, or emergency catcher. The tactical situation in the game may require an individual with a broad set of skills who can be used to fill in the gaps when odd situations arise.  In baseball, this "utility infielder" may be called to play any of the 8 positions on the field in response to some tactical situation that occurs.  This player is enormously valuable as they give the manager additional options on how to work through the tactical challenges that occur during a ballgame.  Can we do the same thing as Project Managers?

Can we identify staff with a broad range of skills who can assist with tasks like a software installation in the morning, conduct training of technical staff, or nearly any other functional or technical challenge that may occur on a daily basis.  In the past, I have tried to always staff and use a senior resource in this very role.  Usually, I can position the architect in this role as they need to have a good understanding across the entire solution.  If they are technical, then the project manager can use them in a variety of roles and to address the odd tactical challenges that are faced on a daily basis.

This affords the project manager with a unique flexibility in several areas:

1. Other staff can remain focused on larger tasks
2. Provide additional support to the end users or customer technical staff
3. Enables the PM to focus on strategic initiatives such as the customer relationship
4. Provides capacity to address unplanned development tasks
5. Provides overflow capacity to assist if larger tasks are falling behind or junior staff need assistance.

If the circumstances allow, having a utility infielder on the project team is a "homerun."