The triple constraint of project management has been given many names – the Project Management Triangle, Iron Triangle, and Project Triangle – which should give you an idea of how important the Triple Constraint is when managing a project. If you’re managing a project, then you’re working with the Triple Constraint. Show Therefore, it can be easily argued that the Triple Constraint might be the single most important concept in the history of project management. When used in combination with effective project management software, it can give you the ability to drive your projects to success. What Is the Triple Constraint in Project Management?So, what is the Triple Constraint? That’s easy, it’s a model of the constraints inherent in managing a project. Those constraints are threefold:
Basically, the Triple Constraint states that the success of the project is impacted by its costs, time, and scope. As a project manager, you can keep control of the triple constraint by balancing these three constraints through trade-offs. We’ll explain how these trade-offs work in the section below. While it’s true that the Triple Constraint is an important part of any successful project, it doesn’t determine success. Projects are made from many parts, more than the three that make up the Triple Constraint. That’s why some project management experts have added three more constraints to the model, to better reflect the most critical areas of a project. Here they are:
How Does the Triple Constraint Work?As stated above, project managers can increase or reduce the cost, time and scope of a project with trade-offs to keep it on schedule and under budget. Let’s see how these project triangle trade-offs work with some examples.
All these scenarios are applying the Triple Constraint for managing the project, but there are many more possible trade-offs that can occur in a project, which also involve quality, risk and benefit. By using a project management dashboard, a manager can keep sight of the project as it progresses. Metrics such as the schedule, cost and scope of the project are easy to track. With this information, a project manager can identify issues and adjust the Triple Constraint to prevent those issues from developing into problems. ProjectManager features a real-time dashboard that presents all the critical project data that impacts the triple constraint. How to Manage the Triple ConstraintThe Triple Constraint appears simple, but that’s only on the surface. Each of the three points of this triangle can be unpacked to reveal deeper meaning. CostThe financial commitment of the project is dependent on several variables. There are the resources involved, from materials to people, which all include costs. There are also the fixed and variable costs inherent in any project, such as equipment or labor, which must be calculated. This can seriously come into play with the use of contract workers or outsourcing. This is what project managers do to control costs:
Related: Free Project Budget Template ScopeAs mentioned, the project scope refers to all the project work required to complete the project. Managing that work is critical for project success. When managing scope it’s critical that you prioritize your tasks, enabling you to plan and assign resources effectively. To manage scope, project managers:
These scope management actions taken by project managers are all essential because the amount of time each task will require is critical to the cost and quality of the final product. This can have a great impact on schedule and cost, especially so if the project is on a large scale. Related: Theory of Constraints: A Guide for Project Managers ProjectManager has task management features that make it easy to assign, sort and prioritize your tasks. This way you can delegate all the critical project tasks to the right people, preventing the dreaded scope creep. Plus, by offering file sharing and task comments, we enable collaboration on the task level. TimeAt its basic, the project schedule is the estimated timeline allotted to complete the project, or produce the final deliverable. Usually, this is figured out by first estimating the time that each project task will take. A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used to identify all the project activities. Then project managers can use different scheduling techniques such as the critical path method or PERT charts to determine the total duration of the project. Here’s what project managers do to control the project schedule:
Now that we’ve learned what most project managers do to control the triple constraint, let’s learn about the project management tools that you can use to help you with this process. Controlling the Triple Constraint with ProjectManagerAs mentioned at the top of the post, the triple constraint when used in conjunction with a project management software is the best way to control your project and lead it towards a successful end. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software with real-time data that gives project managers the power to manage each arm of the triple constraint: costs, time and scope. CostsProjectManager helps you track your project costs to make sure you’re not overspending. You can create budgets, add project expenses and input hourly rates for all of your resources. The real-time dashboard tracks cost and five other metrics across your project and reports on them instantly in easy-to-read charts and graphs. This is an easy way to keep an eye on your costs and make sure you’re aligned with your budget. Now you can catch budget issues before they become a problem. TimeYour schedule can get away from you, but not with ProjectManager. When tasks are updated, they’re instantly reflected across the software. That means, your reports and dashboard are accurate and current. You can even watch the progress of individual tasks on the online Gantt chart, where the duration bar indicates how much progress has been made on the task. Timesheets are synced with the team’s tasks, which makes it easy for team members to select their task and just enter it. This brings their time into the timesheet, which can then be previewed and approved with a few clicks. ScopeScope is going to change throughout the project, and ProjectManager has the tools to stay flexible with those changes. There are multiple project views, so you can switch from the Gantt to the kanban board to get visibility into your workflow. Kanban cards, which represent tasks, are set by priority, which can change as the relevance of those tasks change. The great thing about kanban boards is that they’re set up to deliver tasks to team members only when the resources and capacity are there to complete them. As the scope of the project changes, the kanban board can quickly adjust. If you notice teams are under- or overallocated, you can balance that out on the workload page. The workload page has color-coded charts that show at-a-glance who is overloaded with tasks and who is available. You can reallocate their work quickly and easily to keep the project within scope. The Triple Constraint will help you manage your project. Planning for the schedule, scope and cost of your project will help you achieve your goals and objectives. ProjectManager, a cloud-based project management software, gives you the tools to use this model effectively. See how our real-time dashboards & interactive Gantt charts can help you by taking this free 30-day trial. |