Management: Project Management Success
Introduction
Project constraints can be defined as anything that can either dictate or restrict the actions of a project under a team. The most common constraints that are of a significant hindrance in project management are: time, quality and resources. Most projects possess at least one or two of these limitations and sometimes a project may have all of these constraints at a go. Other common constraints involved in projects include: constraint scope, quality, customer satisfaction and costs.
The constraints that affect projects and are mostly assumed are: lack of commitment both from the project sponsor or the executive management team and unrealistic expectations of stakeholders towards the project outcomes. Also, interruptions and reorganizations in the course of the project, inadequate resources, a breakdown in communication, business conditions or economic times that are uncertain and technology all hamper the success of a project. This essay is going to look at how management of these constraints affects the success of projects. Furthermore, it provides an in-depth look at the various constraints that affect projects.
The most common project constraints are referred to as the triple constraints. The triple constraints include: constraint scope, time-schedule, and resources. The triple constraint illustration creates a realistic fashion whose primary attributes must be addressed so as to ensure the success of any project or the completion of any project.
Time as a constraint refers to the specified period that is required to produce a deliverable which in most cases is the end product of the project. Some requirements characterize the time needed to produce a deliverable (Time and Cost Management 2006). These requirements are part of the result that is the scope and the total amount of allocated resources to a project, which is the cost. Cost as a constraint refers to the estimate of the money needed to ensure the completion of a project. The cost of a project involves a lot of things such as labor rates for contractors, risk estimates, resources, and bills of particular materials. Projects have aspects, and those aspects that have a monetary element are made part of the general cost structure (Long & Ohsato 2008).
Scope refers to the aspects that when fulfilled, make up the deliverables for the project. The project is given the best chance of success by generally identifying the scope up front. The inherent quality at the end of a project provides the measure for scope (Scope Management 2010). The triple constraint is a triangle which means that one cannot alter or adjust a single side of the triangle without affecting the other sides. For example, if a request to change the scope in the middle of the execution of a project is made, the two other attributes (time and cost) will be affected to some extent. The magnitude of the effect of the scope change in time and cost constraints is determined by the complexity and the nature of the scope change. Also, in the case where there is a tight schedule and the project manager realizes that the requirements cannot be achieved within the time frame, then the time and costs are consequently affected (Long & Ohsato 2008).
Understanding and managing the constraints
A project manager needs to understand fully that these triple constraints are interrelated. Therefore, the triple constraints determine any adjustments that are to be made to the materials and any other items. Because of this, a project manager needs to evaluate the various consequences that come with different changes that he intends to make to the budget or the addition of a particular scope to the project. Assuming the potential consequences of scope adjustments to a project, time and cost changes may cause issues that could lead to the failure of a project. It is important for a project manager to convey information on how the triple constraints function to the stakeholders of the project (Trautmann & Baumann 2009). Making sure that everybody involved in the project is well aware of the role of the triple constraints ensures that the discussions on scope, cost and time are easy. This is important since most stakeholders are the main reason for adjustments in the budget or scope creep in a project.
Conclusion
A project manager should ensure that he or she is in control of the primary attributes of time, cost, and scope together with all the constraints associated with a project. This is important since it determines the success of an ongoing project. It is imperative not to assume that any attribute not attended to or left hanging cannot affect the project as a whole. This is important because people, in most cases, think that a change to a particular attribute of either of the constraints cannot affect the other attributes. The triple constraint is viewed as a mechanism that is well respected and well known for signifying the relationship of the primary attributes of a project. Being aware of the implications and the functions of the triple constraints is important to the project manager in understanding his responsibility and his roles towards a project.
References
Time and Cost Management. (2006). Sheriff/Managing Projects in Telecommunication Services Managing Projects in Telecommunication Services, 87-97.
Scope Management. (2010). Kerzner/ Managing Complex Projects, 141-159.
Long, L. D., & Ohsato, A. (2008). Fuzzy critical chain method for project scheduling under resource constraints and uncertainty. International Journal of Project Management, 26(6), 688-698.
Trautmann, N., & Baumann, P. (2009). Project Scheduling with Precedence Constraints and Scarce Resources: An Experimental Analysis of Commercial Project Management Software. Operations Research Proceedings 2008, 165-170.
