top 3 challenges in managing triple constraint

TOP 3 CHALLENGES IN MANAGING

TRIPLE CONSTRAINTIT Project Management

Sunil Guglani, PMP

Triple Constraint

■ The triple constraint is the combination of three most significant attributes Scope, Cost and Time of Project Management.

■ The further refinement has added the additional constraint Quality in the Project Management Triangle.

■ These parameters are often used to measure the performance of the project and also decide success or failure of the project.

■ Change in any side of the triangle effects the other sides of the triangle.

■ The priority in the triple constraint is decided by Project Sponsor.

Major Challenges in managing Triple Constraint

■ Scope management challenge: Scope Creep■ Time Management challenge: Request of Schedule

Compression■ Cost Management challenge: Request of

Compressed budget

Scope Creep

What is Scope Creep?

■ Does following situation look familiar to you:– The client is giving you tough time in UAT sign off

and asking for many changes in the system.– The client has asked for some additional feature

which is not in the agreed scope/SOW, without going through change control procedure.

– The client is asking you to change the feature, it was initially agreed.

■ The above situations are perfect examples of scope creep.

■ Any change in the scope where cost and time are not updated appropriately is considered as Scope creep.

■ It is mostly considered as risk in the project.■ Scope Creep is considered as the most common

cause for the project failures.

How to prevent Scope Creep

Scope Definition– Properly defined and documented scope– Sufficient involvement of all the stakeholders in the

project– Signoff on requirement and Functional Document from

the client/stakeholders. – Proper requirement gathering, ensure the requirement

gathering by various techniques interview of stakeholders Prototyping Product Demonstrations Group Sessions

Poorly defined Scope definition

Scope Control– Verify and Validate scope in each phase of SDLC using

traceability matrix.– Verify between Business Objectives<-Business Requirement <-

Functionalities<-Design<-Development– Be firm while negotiating with the client on new

requirements.– Validate between

Development<- Unit Testing Design <- SIT Functionalities <- System Testing Business Requirements <-UAT

Schedule Compression

What is Schedule Compression

■ Does following situation look familiar to you:– Your project is behind the schedule and you

need to keep it back on track– Your is project is on schedule but you got the

request from Project sponsor or Client to complete the project faster to meet certain the business objectives.

How to achieve Schedule Compression– Review the Project plan again and see if

dependency on the activities can be revised and activities can be done in parallel

– Project is progressively elaborated, therefore Review the Project plan again on estimation and see if duration of the activities can be shorten.

– Check the feasibility of putting more resources will shorten the duration of the project.

Cost Compression/Reduction

What is Cost Compression

■ Does following situation look familiar to you:– Your project expenditure has gone more than

the planned budget and you need to keep it back on track.

– Your project expenditure is as per planned budget but you got the request from Project sponsor or Client to complete the project in lesser cost to have more project profitability.

How to achieve Cost Compression

– Evaluate Make or Buy decisions for your various project modules to reduce the cost. For example, if outsourcing of some part of the project to third party vendor is cheaper then go for it.

– Revisit the Project Plan for Resource, Duration and Cost estimate of activities.

– Revisit the activity dependencies, if some activities can be done in parallel and project duration can be shorten, you can release the resources from team and reduce the project cost.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND

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