Project Constraint Management: 7 aspects to watch
Managing Projects Constraints is one of the biggest challenges of Project Management. It can feel like juggling multiple balls in the air while balancing on a tightrope. However, you can do it - with an understanding of the areas, issues and decision drivers.
This article is part of the Project Management Fundamentals Series.
How to manage Project Constraints?
Triple Constraint
Client Centric Diamond
Project Dynamic Hexagon
This article will cover the types of Constraints and review real-world examples of applying the Triple Constraints to handle competing priorities. Access the my free downloadable covering the Models, Definitions and Use Cases is here!
Why is Managing Project Constraints Important?
What is the significance of the project constraints? Why are we discussing it?
When managing a project, remembering Constraint Management can help you adjust to changing situations while still completing projects on time, on budget, and within scope. Change is unavoidable in project management. And a project manager who is prepared to address these changes will be more successful at meeting the project objectives.
What is the Triple Constraint?
The Triple Constraint, often known as the "Project Management Triangle" or the "Iron Triangle," depicts the link between a project's scope, time, and cost.
These three project conditions are set at the start of a project through the Project Charter and Plan. See the Project Manager’s Toolkit for more on this (and a free downloadable Workbook).
The Project Triple Constraint Triangle
You probably have heard that you can have any 2 of the above aspects. Why?
To further understand this, let's look at each side of the triple constraint triangle:
Scope
Scope describes what is being done, and how much of it is being done by combining all of the products and services to be delivered. The scope documentation requires a very specific and detailed assessment, including everything that goes into the product, the product interface with the user, and the product, solution, or process outcome.
Time
Time refers to the calendar time (number of days and hours) but can also refer to effort. For example a Task may take 5 days for 2 people working part time. The start and end would total 5 days, but the effort may total 7 days to complete the work.
Cost
The financial and non-financial resources necessary for the project are referred to as project costs. Examples of these are labor costs, hardware, software, and other fees. Fixed Costs are constant regardless of scope or time changes, while Variable Costs flex depending on Scope, Time, and other factors.
How Does The Triple Constraint Work?
The entire concept of project management's Triple Constraint is that the three variables of scope, time, and cost are inextricably intertwined.
The most prevalent model puts "quality" at the triangle's core. This demonstrates that the scope, money, and amount of time spent on a project determine its quality. When one side of the triangle is changed, the other sides must adjust to maintain a constant degree of quality.
Aside from arithmetic, this concept is intuitive. If you want anything delivered quickly (in a shorter amount of time), you will have to pay extra (cost). If you want to save money (cost), you may sometimes pick a more straightforward version (scope). However, the relationships are more complex than simple math. Addition to scope may require an exponential increase in cost due the addition more staff, not just additional hours.
The Triple Constraint is particularly useful in client discussions, both when establishing the scope of a project and when dealing with Change Requests as they arise. Digital agencies operate in a competitive market, and it's natural to feel pressured to offer something low cost and fast. However, the Iron Triangle reminds us that projects cannot be inexpensive, complete, and speedy all at the same time. To decide "what has to be given," we must first choose our priorities.
Triple Constraint Case Study:
If total time (calendar time) is fixed, but scope increases through additions or problems which delay the project what would you do?
You might try one of the following options:
a) Add staff to increase the amount of total effort, and increase costs.
b) Reduce scope in another way to maintain the time and cost as planned.
c) Ask your team if there are options to improve performance or a ‘work-around’ which get you back on track through innovative ways of working.
There is no correct answer to the above example. The Project Manager should consider these questions:
What is the most important aspect of the project?
Where is there contingency that you can use?
What resource can be applied to meet the changing demand?
These three constraints are dynamic throughout the lifecycle of a project. Documenting choices, decisions and results as they come up will help the Project Manager to develop a track record which can be used to improve decision making going forward. This Decision Log is available in the Project Manager’s Toolkit downloadable guide noted above.
The Triple Constraint Theory has been the benchmark for project management. However, in recent years, there has been a greater understanding of more than simply three constraints.
Client Centric Contraint
Suppose the Client's needs and wants form the most significant part of the project changes. You may find another model more useful.
The Client Diamond may be more meaningful with a view to continuous stakeholder maintenance. The goal of every project should be to meet the Clients needs. But when those needs are unstable (due to changing stakeholders, market demands, or something else), the project manager needs to consider this new model.
The Client Centric Constraint Diamond
The Client Centric approach demands tact and understanding of the situation. One of the jobs of a Project Manager is to protect the project from influences that undermine it’s ability to be successful (i.e., the project should meet agreed scope, time, and budget unless formal updated and replan through a Project Charter). However, if the needs of the Client or environments are changing, the savvy manager makes adjustments in how they interact with their Stakeholders and what they keep track of.
Client Constraint Case Study:
If your Client has regular and significant change requests that impact scope. Or makes requests that do not sync with each other. What would you do?
You might try one of the following options:
a) Asking the Client for a Project Goal Scope review
b) Set up a Change Control Committee of End Users and functional and technical project team members to meet, review, and assess change.
c) Discuss the option of ‘freezing work’ with your Client. This will allow a limited scope of work to stop to allow time to stabilize the end-to-end solution. This limits reorder and wasted use of capacity.
One or all of these options may be helpful to keep the Client happy and the project on track. It may also be that the change requests are not well understood by the Client. Therefore, using option b can help to set up a feedback loop for the Client. Allowing them to increase their appreciation for the impact of constant change requests on the end product, project, and team.
Managing Dynamic Project Variables
Project Management Dynamic Constraints: Beyond the Triangle.
The accuracy and utility of the Iron Triangle have long been a source of debate. Some people believe the Triple Constraint paradigm is incorrect and unworkable. But the triangle notion has been retained in several theories. Regardless of the differing viewpoints, every project manager instinctively understands that a project has many more constraints than just scope, time, and cost. Project management is more complicated than the Iron Triangle factors describe.
The Dynamic Constraint Hexagon
The PMI PMBOK guide constraint updates
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has increased the number of constraints to acknowledge the model's limitations. The Project Management Institute (PMI) has removed the project triangle from its current version of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) to acknowledge that project managers typically deal with dynamic and diverse constraints. When multiple project variables occur, it is not a simple give and take trade off. But a much more complex ‘Rubik's cube’ of possibilities and outcomes. The PMBOK Guide currently includes the following project limitations in their list:
Scope
Cost/Budget
Schedule/Time
Quality
Resources
Risk
Benefits
Scope, Schedule (Time), and Budget (Cost) have previously been discussed. Let's have a look at the three additional limitations in the PMBOK:
Quality
The Quality constraint is comparable to the Scope constraint, except that quality is concerned with the qualities of a delivery. When quality is not well defined, it can be the cause for instability in the project. If an area is undefined, or in and out of scope are not well documented. Assign someone from the team to review and document the suggested scope better and send through review to help to clarify uncharted content or quality definitions.
Resources
Project resources are the people and/or material goods required for a project's successful execution and completion. In a nutshell: project resources are what you depend on to get work done. They can differ depending on the type of project. But in all cases, having the right resources at the right place and at the right time is critical to project success. It takes planning and foresight to plan, as resources take time to get in place.
Risk
Risk means that an event can occur and may have an impact on the project. This condition relates to the degree of risk that project stakeholders or team members are ready to accept.
Although these extra variables are valid project management restrictions, the Triple Constraint's basic model helps visualize the link between the high-level dynamics involved in project management.
Benefits
Benefits are the projected improvements that the project will provide to the corporation, such as increased revenue or better customer service. Benefits can be hard: a calculation of return on investment (ROI); or soft a brand or value perception improvement. Either way, be clear about which benefits the project will deliver: how they will be calculated and who will calculate them at what time in the project life cycle. Changes on this constraint can change the very nature of the project, so you need to be clear about what success looks like with your stakeholders and ensure it is well documented.
Multiple Constraint Case Study:
A Change of technical staffing to a new, less experienced staff is occurring during an unplanned systems upgrade. These combined changes will increase project risk, resources, cost, and planning. Planning for so many changes at once what would you do?
You might try one of the following options:
a) Try to retain the current staff during the upgrade.
b) Hire a more seasoned staff to replace the out-going team member.
c) Delay the upgrade until the new technical member is up to speed
There are so many choices here. And you can mitigate risk to the team and the upgrade by addressing multiple solutions at once. An example of a multi-layered approach is short term retention of the current staff for oversight and training of the new staff to ensure the upgrade process is covered and to provide cross-trained at the same time.
Look at the situation with all of the dynamic constrains in mind.
Delay of the upgrade my have an impact to build causing additional costs to the project and schedule slip.
Staffing changes could cause pressure on other team members.
A rushed upgrade can bring down the system (and project).
Work the issue with your team Leads to make sure all aspects of the ideas are considered and documented. This way you are more likely to see the planned outcomes and the unexpected outcomes as well.
Each of these constraints can dynamically change. Which impacts the other constraints. Make sure you include planning and tracking project constraints management throughout the project's lifecycle. And, don’t forget, significant project changes will require a full review of the project planning, staffing and budget.
Best Practice for Effectively Managing the Triple Constraints
The project management Triangle, though still simple, is a helpful method to illustrate project expectations. But Project Manager’s with complex projects to manage should consider the more dynamic view of project and client satisfaction management to keep the project and project team on track.
Choosing priorities and creating the project plan is only the beginning. Moving ahead, make sure you're tracking the proper metrics to maintain track of your scope, time, and budget. Tracking helps the current decisions and the long-term project lessons learned,
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