The basis of Project Management: The triple constraint

In any project that you will manage, you will be in a precarious balance.

You probably already experienced it.

Scope, time and cost are working against each other. It is called the triple constraint.

Intuitively, we know that if we increase the scope, reduce the time or the budget for a project the quality of the work may suffer. How does it work? Let’s use a simple example.

• You are a project manager.
• Scope: Implement an ERP to manage the company resources
• Cost: 400,000USD
• Time: 6 months

You made the project management plan, it will be tight but everything is on track, all is going well.

Now, the upper management comes to you. They want to add additional features, forecasting, and analytic tools. The scope will increase. Will you be able to stay on schedule and within budget? Not sure.

Everyone would like to keep the same budget and schedule, it is unfortunately not possible. You will have to either increase the budget allowed for the project or the time needed to complete it. Understanding the triple constraints will help you in deciding what will be your next step for every and each change that will happen during the…