Triple Constraint

The concept of triple constraint can be considered the heart of project management.

Out of the many constraints in handling a project, three of them stands out.
These are - Scope, Schedule and Cost.

Simply put, it means a project manager has to continuously juggle/manage his project in the bindings of the scope, schedule/time and cost constraints till completion.
After scope has been defined and approved by stakeholders, PM (Project Manager) has to make all efforts to adhere to scope baseline (Scope statement, WBS and WBS dictionary) and control through out the project. A change request approved by change control board that changes the scope (although rarely) will be the only occasion when PM can allow himself to a changed scope.
Similarly, basis WBS a PM develops schedule plan with milestones and critical deliveries. Once it is approved, he has to keep on adhering it. Same goes for Cost constraint which is directly tied to schedule plan and resource availability.
A PM has to constantly do a trade-off between the three constraints whenever a challenge arises in his project.

Bottom line is, the better a PM carries this trade-off, better is the chance of project success! So simple!

When should a Project Manager join a project?

This is a very common question people ask and let us have a quick discussion. PMBOK 4th Edition says, a project manager should join a project no later than the initiation stage. In real life, project manager should on board a project as early as possible, best during project feasibility study and business case preparation.

Reasons can be-

• Project manager should have good understanding of the organization culture. If not, he should have enough time to know that!
• He can look back at organization’s history and see whether projects of similar scale have been successful or not.
• He can initiate early risk management process by identifying risk types and best responses.
• He can get to know stakeholders very early, build rapport, understand their individual styles and demands as well as influence and power in the project. This is very important in making different strategies for different stakeholders.
• He can have a firsthand encounter with project budget on a high level. This will be beneficial while doing cost planning in planning phase.
• Lastly, provide his inputs in shaping up Project Charter. More than inputs, he can actually go in building a charter and present it to Sponsor, Stakeholders, Functional heads to get approval.

Bottom-line is never wait or waste time in on-boarding a Project Manager, the earlier he is the better it is!