You may not have heard about the triple constraint theory, but you might be surprised if you said you are operating under it anytime you run a project, and it is something that works without you knowing.
The concept is known in several names, such as Iron Triangle, Project Management Triangle, and Project Triangle, which gives us an insight into how significant the Triple Constraint is when managing a project.
Though the concept seems to be confusing and somewhat complex, however, in reality, it's a simple procedure. When Triple Constraint is leveraged with efficient project management software, it offers you the potential to drive the project to success.
What is Triple Constraint Theory?
Triple Constraint theory is defined as the project's success that is impacted by its cost, scope and time. Any modification in any one factor will directly affect the rest. Let us understand it better with an example, shall we? If there are unexpected modifications in the project and your client wants the deliverable at a swift turnaround time, it will directly affect the processes. You must ramp up, maybe charge more and meet the altered deadlines.
As a project manager, you can maintain the concept by balancing these constraints via trade-offs and ensuring everyone's demands are met to create a successful project. Though the idea is a significant part of the project, it doesn't determine success, as projects are made from several functions. That is why few management professionals have added extra 3 constraints to the existing model to better reflect critical project areas.
- Quality - Whether a project is a final deliverable or a tangible product, each project has quality norms. Project managers need a specific quality management practice to control project quality.
- Risk - This is an inherent aspect of any project, and this is one of the reasons why project experts need to develop a risk management plan to define how the risks can be tackled.
- Benefit - Different gifts are obtained from a project; hence managers must ensure that project shareholders get the best financial help.
Significance of Triple Constraint Theory
Triple Constraint theory is considered during project performance because the team will be aware of boundaries within which they are needed to operate. Even when these conditions change, the team will adapt to the changes and eliminate the most optimal possible outcomes within the provided circumstances.
Let’s see in detail the concept of Triple Constraints theory.
Scope
The scope of a project is defined as the needs starting from the very beginning to its final stage. It is basically what you agree with the end-user before initiating project work. If there are modifications to the scope, it will consistently impact the expense and schedule of the project.
To maintain top quality with the fast turnaround time, it is suggested that the project scope remains the same throughout.
Generally, the scope is selected during a project's planning phase, which will allow the managers to include all the goals and prerequisites of the project. It also ensures that individuals involved in the project are aware of their expectations and know how to implement them.
This will aid in avoiding the scope creep that takes place when prerequisites change over time. Scope creep is pernicious to all the project aspects, and if you allow it, the creep can sneak up on you, bringing an entirely different modification to the project requirement.
Therefore, it is significant that managers must take a step and define the aspects of projects, stopping them in a document, before quitting the work.
Time
Another factor that contributes to successful project completion is time. Depending on the demands, the managers need to ponder the project duration required to complete as per the client's expectations. When considering the schedule, you must consider all the end-users needs, brainstorm with the POCs involved, and arrive at a conclusion as to how long the project might take to finish off work.
When calculating time, one thing to keep in mind is that project might get expensive when we try to rush it for a quick delivery than having a more extended project with a longer schedule. When trying to cut down the time, quality is the one that suffers, which may lead to client dissatisfaction and later result in rework.
There are other factors to be considered when taking a project, such as research and meetings with shareholders & clients, which are time-consuming programs. Hence considering time beyond task hour is essential, and the more accurate your time estimation is, the better are these timelines determine the project course.
The following are some of the methods you could follow for effective project development:
- Create project overview
- Noting of different methods or activities involved
- Defining activities along with the priorities
- Estimate the time needed for each method
- Create a detailed schedule of the project and delivery time
- Control and update the schedule
- Tracking of updates and project progress
Cost
The estimated deadline and resources will be a fundamental factor in calculating the project expense. The expense is primarily a budget you have to offer the client, stating the charges for completing the project. The budgeting must be accurately done, highlighting the process and employees involved to make the project a success.
It should also include the number of hours the project will take for completion, along with extra hours needed for researching and meetings. Other than that, the budget must have the time required for team members to complete their work at the expense of the materials and equipment required.
Two things you must not sacrifice when budget plannings are honesty and openness towards your client. You must ensure that the client is aware of what they are being charged for. It is also necessary to be transparent regarding the works and procedures that might not have been included in the expense.
Following are a few methods for you to efficiently calculate the project budget:
- To estimate the expenses, leverage data from previously done similar projects
- Find out the expense of your materials and resources
- Use different parameters and analyze by measuring previous and new data available
- Work in a reverse mode and estimate the expense by tracking budget spent on previous projects (lowest to highest)
- Communicate with your suppliers and calculate their expenses
- Include quality analysis cost
Performance of Triple Constraint
Project managers can either maximize or minimize the cost, scope and timeline of a project with trade-offs to keep it on schedule and under budget. Let us see how these works:
- Time and scope - If you are running behind the schedule, you can reduce the project scope and time. In reverse case, you can maximize the project duration if shareholders come up with additional project schemes.
- Cost and scope - By minimizing the scope of a project, you can perform fewer practices, which leads to lower expenses. In other case, a massive scope means higher expense.
- Cost and time - In some projects, cost and time are directly dependent such as the cost of renting equipment or labor.
In all these cases, we can see the application of the Triple Constraint for project management; however, several other trade-offs can happen during a project, such as benefit, quality and risk.
With the help of a project management dashboard, a manager can keep a close watch on the progressing project. Metrics like scope, schedule and expenses are easy to keep sight of. A project manager can determine problems and adjust the Triple Constraint to prevent them from developing more significant issues.
The project manager features a real-time dashboard that indicates all crucial data of a project impacting the Triple Constraint.
How You Can Manage Better with Triple Constraint
If you are more open to the Triple Constraint idea and start paying a little close attention, you can change the way your members react to the concept and to the rest of the project on the verge of completion. When you have a better insight into what to expect, it's a lot easier to complete the tasks.
Understanding the Scope
It's easy to get caught in scope creep; hence, communicating with the team about the project requirements is always better. If you don't go in detail and your team is not familiar with the different project aspects due to lack of communication, the team might likely go beyond what's expected of them as they believe something isn't a project part.
Set Suitable Deadlines
Whether the project is short-run or long-run, setting small targets and deadlines will assist your team to function seamlessly and give them satisfaction as they go past each objective. Observe these deadlines and targets to maintain a progress track and calculate the planned timeline vs the actual one for target completion. This will help in effective accountability and offers progress clarity.
Know the Budget
When you provide the budget to your client, you will be highlighting every detail of expenses, which will help you keep track of the budget. You have to ensure that the team is aware of the budget and how you are doing about it, so you can find where to adjust the cost to make sure you are sticking near to the original expense.
Conclusion
The Triple Constraint is a simple procedure that will help project managers avoid fallacies, poor decisions, and risks and help the team achieve their goals efficiently.
It is significant to keep track of time, expense, and scope when managing a project. Even a minor change in any of these areas can cause a change in others. By keeping track of all and operating hard to maintain the practices that you set at the initial phase of the project and developing the process with the client, you will manage the Triple Constraint. Therefore, work with your team to ensure that every project aspect works for you.
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