Project Management Triangle
- Introduction. The project management triangle is used by managers to analyze or understand the difficulties that may arise due to implementing and executing a project.
- The Three Constraints. ...
- Quality. ...
- Six stages of Project Management. ...
- Overcoming Challenges to Project Constraints. ...
- Skills Required for a Project Manager
- Conclusion. ...
Full Answer
What are the three parts of the project management triangle?
What is the project management triangle? The project management triangle is made up of three variables that determine the quality of the project: scope, cost, and time. The triangle demonstrates how these three variables are linked—if one of the variables is changed, the other two must be adjusted in order to keep the triangle connected.
Who has the authority to trade between constraints in the triangle?
The project manager has the authority to trade between constraints in the project management triangle. They are often the ones who decide when and where to make adjustments to preserve project and deliverable quality. What is the purpose of the project management triangle?
What is the project Triangle and how to balance it?
It’s a project manager’s job to balance the three points of the triangle to achieve the best possible quality while staying within budget, on deadline, and adhering to the project specifications. There are two types of relationships at play in the project triangle. The first is the relationship between scope and the two other project variables.
What are the project triangle trade-offs and how do they 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. Time and Scope: You can reduce your project scope to also reduce your project duration if you’re running behind schedule.
How does the project management triangle works?
The project management triangle is a model in project management that shows how the balance between three constraints—scope, time, and budget—affects the quality of the project. The triangle shows that affecting one constraint will mean adjusting one or both of the others in order to maintain the quality.
What are the 3 elements of the project triangle?
The project management “triangle” of scope, time, and cost has been informing projects ever since the first team member was hired to accomplish a job. In the basic setup of a triple constraint, one of three elements (or possibly more) can constrain a project. The elements are budget/cost, time/schedule, and scope.
Why is the project triangle an important concept to the project manager?
The value of the triple constraints in project management is that it serves as a visual reminder of the impact decisions will make on other parts of your project. It's critical to plan, manage, execute, and monitor a project's cost, schedule, and budget.
What are the three 3 principle of project management?
Projects typically have three basic components: cost, schedule, and scope. Each of these components should have a baseline or plan against which performance can be measured.
What is Golden triangle in project management?
The Golden Triangle in Project Management is a concept that represents the relationship between the three aspects of project management: Scope, Time, and Cost.
What are the 5 major processes of project management?
The project life cycle includes the steps required for project managers to successfully manage a project from start to finish. There are 5 phases to the project life cycle (also called the 5 process groups)—initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing.
What is the golden rule of project management?
Rule 1: Thou shall gain consensus on the project outcome. Rule 2: Thou shall build the best team possible. Rule 3: Thou shall develop a comprehensive, viable plan and keep it up-to-date. Rule 4: Thou shall determine how much activity you really need to get all things done.
What are the keys of project management?
8 Key Project Management PrinciplesLeadership.Communication.Planning.Personal Organization.Problem Solving.Effective Decision Making.Time Management.Negotiation.More items...•
What are the key points of project management?
11 aspects of project managementScope statement. When beginning your project, create a scope statement to describe your project's objectives. ... Schedule and timeline. ... Risk management. ... Resources planning. ... Deliverables. ... Critical success factors. ... Budget. ... Stakeholder list.More items...•
What are the three elements of any project?
The project management triangle is made up of three variables that determine the quality of the project: scope, cost, and time.
What 3 things define a project?
The 3 things that make a solid project definition Goal. Objectives. Scope.
What are the three main constraints on a project?
“The triple constraint has traditionally been understood as the three primary factors that constrain a project: scope, cost, and time.”
Why is the project management triangle important?
The project management triangle helps to illustrate the relationship between project constraints. It can also help reduce project risk, or provide...
What are the phases of the project management lifecycle?
The project management lifecycle has four stages: initiating, planning, executing, and closing. Some resources list five phases, adding “monitoring...
What causes scope creep in project management?
Scope creep can be caused by many factors. These include poorly defined scope, lack of communication between stakeholders and the team, unclear pri...
What is a project management triangle?
The project management triangle is a visual representation of the relationship between the scope, time, and budget constraints in project management.
How to choose a project management methodology?
Choose a methodology based on constraints: You might opt to adopt a project management methodology based on the constraints you face. Projects that face strict constraints are often managed through Waterfall-type approaches. If you need more flexibility, an Agile method like Scrum might be more fitting. Projects where inefficiencies need to be minimized as much as possible can benefit from a Lean approach.
What does it mean to expand the scope of a project?
This might mean extending the original schedule of the project, or increasing the budget in order not to affect the quality of the output. Likewise, shortening the schedule to meet an earlier deadline might mean increasing the budget or tightening the scope. Need to absolutely reduce the budget and timeline without changing the scope? Then the triangle might have to shrink—meaning the quality of the product might be reduced.
What is scope in project management?
Scope: Scope refers to the deliverables and tasks that must be completed to achieve the project’s goals. The scope might change if stakeholders decide mid-project that they want to adjust a product, or add another product entirely.
What is the time constraint?
Time: Time is how long it takes to complete tasks in a project, and the project itself. This constraint is also called the schedule. An expanded scope can increase timelines. So can a decreased budget—for example, if a team member is removed from the team due to budget constraints, it can take longer to complete a project.
What is project cost?
Cost: Project cost is the total amount of money required to complete a project. This is also called the budget. Costs might include salaries for employees, and money for equipment, tools, office space, and other resources. Adding new members to a team or increasing the time it takes to complete a project can impact cost.
How many stages are there in the project lifecycle?
The project management lifecycle has four stages: initiating, planning, executing, and closing. Some resources list five phases, adding “monitoring and controlling” to this list.
What is the project management triangle?
The project management triangle is a graphic aid or model that shows the constraining factors of project management. It includes three elements—cost, time and scope—that affect the quality of a project. Other areas of project management such as stakeholder impact, user satisfaction and learning may not receive consideration in this model. Other names for the project management triangle include the triple constraint, project triangle and iron triangle.
What are the other factors of project management?
Aside from time, cost and scope , other factors that relate to project management include:
What is the closing phase of a project?
The closing phase begins when the deliverables leave the team and reach the client. After approval, release of resources and the signing of documents, the project is complete. The closing phase may include a post-project meeting where the project manager and team evaluate the performance and discuss methods for future improvement.
What is the goal of a project brief?
One of the primary goals is to create a case that justifies why the project is necessary and how to complete it within a reasonable time and cost. Teams can create a project brief or project charter, a document that lists everything the project accomplishes, during this phase.
What is the monitoring and controlling phase?
The monitoring and controlling phase happens simultaneously with the execution phase. In this section, the project manager looks at the performance and progress of the project to keep it within budget and on time. This is also the phase that focuses on quality control. Project managers closely evaluate the three elements of the project management triangle to provide the best quality for the deliverables.
What is the Project Management Triangle?
The project management triangle is the heartbeat within project management. Also referred to as the ‘iron triangle’ or the ‘triple constraint,’ the project management triangle considers the three common restrictions that co-exist within a project — cost, time, and scope.
Why is it important to understand the project management triangle?
It is essential for all stakeholders involved to understand and agree upon the project’s restraints so the right decisions are made in the best interest of the project’s outcome. By identifying the three basic concepts of the project management triangle, project managers can work toward delivering the project to the highest quality possible.
What is the impact of time constraints on a project?
Any delay in materials or unanticipated challenges for the team can cause major delays to the project, which makes meeting fixed time constraints a challenge. And since time limitations are directly tied to the cost and scope of the project, any impact to the time constraint can snowball into added costs for more labor or result in significant sacrifices to the project’s overall scope.
How does the Iron Triangle help in project management?
So, how does the project management triangle help? With limited understanding or experience in project management basics, using the iron triangle as a visual tool can assist project managers in explaining project restraints to clients and stakeholders.
What is the role of project managers in overcoming constraints?
Whether they face delays on materials or an unmotivated project team — to successfully complete their projects, these professionals play a balancing act, weighing the provided fixed constraints against unforeseen variables and limitations.
What is triple constraint?
Using a triangle diagram, the triple constraint illustrates just how interconnected these three elements are. Should one or more constraints be adjusted, the remaining components will likewise be affected to varying degrees.
What is a PMP course?
The PMP course covers new trends, emerging practices, tailoring considerations, and core competencies required of a Project Management professional.
What is the Agile triangle?
The Agile triangle updates the traditional project triangle to incorporate Agile project management philosophies.
What are the core components of a project plan?
Answering this question will help you move from the abstract modeling of the project management triangle to the concrete reality of a project plan.
What is a triangle in project management?
As a project management graphic aid, a tri angle can show time, resources, and technical objective as the sides of a triangle, instead of the corners. John Storck, a former instructor of the American Management Association 's "Basic Project Management" course, used a pair of triangles called triangle outer and triangle inner to represent the concept that the intent of a project is to complete on or before the allowed time, on or under budget, and to meet or exceed the required scope. The distance between the inner and outer triangles illustrated the hedge or contingency for each of the three elements. Bias could be shown by the distance. His example of a project with a strong time bias was the Alaska pipeline which essentially had to be done on time no matter the cost. After years of development, oil flowed out the end of the pipe within four minutes of schedule. In this illustration, the time side of triangle inner was effectively on top of the triangle outer line. This was true of the technical objective line also. The cost line of triangle inner, however, was outside since the project ran significantly over budget.
Why is the Project Management Triangle considered insufficient?
The Project Management Triangle is considered insufficient as a model of project success because it omits crucial dimensions of success including impact on stakeholders, learning and user satisfaction.
What is the difference between time constraints and cost constraints?
The time constraint refers to the amount of time available to complete a project. The cost constraint refers to the budgeted amount available for the project . The scope constraint refers to what must be done to produce the project's end result. These three constraints are often competing constraints: increased scope typically means increased time and increased cost, a tight time constraint could mean increased costs and reduced scope, and a tight budget could mean increased time and reduced scope.
What is the real value of a project triangle?
The real value of the project triangle is to show the complexity that is present in any project. The plane area of the triangle represents the near infinite variations of priorities that could exist between the three competing values. By acknowledging the limitless variety, possible within the triangle, using this graphic aid can facilitate better project decisions and planning and ensure alignment among team members and the project owners.
What is the Iron Triangle?
The project management triangle (called also the triple constraint, iron triangle and project triangle) is a model of the constraints of project management. While its origins are unclear, it has been used since at least the 1950s. It contends that:
How can a project be completed faster?
For example, a project can be completed faster by increasing budget or cutting scope. Similarly, increasing scope may require equivalent increases in budget and schedule. Cutting budget without adjusting schedule or scope will lead to lower quality. "Good, fast, cheap. Choose two.".
What is cost control?
Cost Control – factors that create cost fluctuation and variance can be influenced and controlled using various cost management tools.
Why Is the Triple Constraint Important?
Think of the Triple Constraint as the boundaries in which you can work. Just as restrictions enhance creativity, the Triple Constraint provides a framework that everyone in the project can agree on. These metrics drive the project forward while allowing for adjustments as needed when issues arise.
What is a project management dashboard?
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 manager can identify issues and adjust the Triple Constraint to prevent those issues from developing into problems. ProjectManager.com features a real-time dashboard that presents all the critical project data that impacts the triple constraint.
What happens if you run behind schedule?
For example, if you’re running behind schedule, you can work to reduce the features of the project. That’s reducing scope. Then you can dedicate more resources to moving the schedule ahead. That’s increasing cost. You can also, if possible, change the due date to give you more time. All these scenarios are applying the Triple Constraint for managing the project.
Why is scope important in a project?
Scope is important to manage on any project, whether agile software projects or well-planned waterfall projects, because if you can’t control the scope of the project, you’re not likely to deliver it on time or under budget!
Why is scope management important?
These scope management steps are all essential because the amount of time each task will require is critical to the quality of that final product. This can have a great impact on schedule and cost, especially so if the project is on a large scale.
What is the key factor in managing and establishing scope?
Another key factor in managing and establishing scope is handling stakeholder expectations. Stakeholders can often have new demands that popup during a project, and you need to be able to assuage their expectations. This can especially be the case in long term projects where there might be new stakeholders introduced in the middle of the project.
What is a parametric?
Parametric: Measure statistical relationship between historic data and other variables
