In project management, success hinges on the delicate balance of three key elements: scope, cost, and time. These make up the project management triangle commonly known as the PM triangle or the golden triangle. Each side of the triangle describes a specific constraint that the project manager has to manage in order to provide the best results. The Training Course in Project Management provided by the British Academy for Training and Development offers insights on how to pursue successful project management with reference to the elements of scope, cost, and time.
This article will look at how scope, cost, and time interrelate and how managing this triangle leads to the achievement of project goals.
“Project management triangle or the triangle of quality is a model that breaks down the constraints of project management into three keystones which are scope, cost, and time.”
Sometimes referred to as the quality triangle or resource triangle this conveys that all three of these factors are related. As a result, they mutually interrelate in such a manner that change of one would automatically translate to change of the others, requiring adjustment to meet the intended goals effectively.
Scope refers to the detailed description in terms of work and products necessary to accomplish the project. It consists of the detailed requirements and features that organisations and stakeholders consider relevant for the overall success of a particular project. An increase in scope called scope creep arises out of changes in the work that is carried out during project progress which can impact both time and money. The best way of controlling scope is to ensure that it is well defined, documented, and all stakeholders are in agreement on what the project will and will not cover in regard to scope creep.
Cost means the total amount of capital that is needed in order to implement the project in line with the project scope. This budget is drawn to cater for costs such as material costs, human talent, technology or any other cost that might be needed to accomplish the project. Budget control is one of the aspects where project managers have to keep up the guard to avoid excessive spending, so at some point, a decision has to be made to focus on a given set of tasks at the cost of others. Budget constraints can influence the key aspects of work, that is the time frame and the quality of outcomes, force decisions about costs or reduce the range of admissible decisions to work within the framework of the means available.
Time gives the schedule of the project, highlighting the duration of the project and when the project is expected to be over. Scheduling is very important since the failure of one activity to commence or complete on time is likely to affect other activities and therefore overall deadline. Through Gantt charts, project managers are able to create a schedule where certain activities have to be accomplished before others. Limited time means that the project needs more resources or a decrease in the scale to deliver the ongoing commitment with reasonable quality.
These constraints are closely related; therefore, the best approach to explaining the scope-cost-time relationship must be understood for good project management.
The relationship between scope, cost, and time is also known as the time-quality-cost triangle or the time-cost-quality triangle. Changes made to one component of a system need to be balanced with changes to the other parts of the system in order to retain quality. For example:
Taking up additional work means more tasks, more attributes or more products that must be developed to address the new demands. This usually inflates project costs and duration. Controlling scope change is possible through scope management to ensure that the changes actually facilitate achievement of project goals.
Shortening the project duration requires increased resources, which is labor force or operating time. These additional resources increase the cost of projects or need to scale down their scope in order to be sustainable. Strategic planning is required to achieve stable quality while reducing time.
Managing cost reductions means limiting the size of a project or increasing the time taken to achieve a work plan within that cost constraint. It also affects the quality of the deliverables if checked improperly. This is because prioritising core activities within a fixed budget aids at keeping project goals in check.
Managing the project management triangle requires reaching optimal decisions whose outcomes meet or surpass the project goals as well as working within the cost, quality, and time constraints. In many cases, project managers have to shift the said triangle as relates to their management objectives commonly concerning resources and schedules. Here are some approaches to manage each element effectively:
Prioritising scope: If consisting of specific features or providing delivery of certain deliverables is the primary purpose, a project manager have to extend the amount of budget or time to ensure quality.
Controlling costs: In situations where the budget becomes a limiting factor, there is a strong need to look at the scope and time control to meet the financial expertise.
Adhering to a timeline: Sometimes, when the deadline is tight, the project scope needs to be reduced, or the costs should be raised so as to achieve the aim of the project without straying off the quality aspect.
Project managers should understand the concept of the scope triangle and must be ready to make changes due to unforeseen circumstances because they affect one or more of the three factors in complex projects.
When applying the project management triangle and trying to set the approaches according to certain goals, one should decide which is more valued—resources or time. The following are divisions together with strategies underneath each in an effort to attain these goals:
The Waterfall methodology is sequential and best suitable for projects that have well defined specifications of its subsequent stages. In each phase, there is no overlapping of the proceeding phase and thus resource utilisation plus the project’s budget are effectively managed.
Lean management focuses on the elimination of waste and delivers outstanding value by using all resources to the maximum. It is very efficient especially when operational with a limited budget for the project in question without compromising quality.
Agile divides projects into sprints, so that changes can be made rapidly, and enhancements can be done progressively. As a result, this approach helps to avoid delays, making it perfect for time-sensitive projects.
Organises work in short sprints fixed by daily meetings called as stand-ups that help to stay productive and leave no essential problems unaddressed. This method expedites timelines by constantly checking progress and faster decision-making processes.
Kanban has a visual task board that helps workflow through a system to get value while minimising the amount of work done at one time. Thus, making it possible to achieve priority of tasks as well as eradicating issues that cause delays in projects that require timely delivery of tasks.
Scrumban combines the sprints of Scrum with the visualisation of flow from the Kanban system, while balancing both flexibility and structure. It’s best used in projects where there are many sequential tasks and fast task transitions.
Quality is always an indispensable factor belonging to the project management triangle, usually called the cost-time-quality triangle or the time-money-quality triangle. This triangle of quality demonstrates that quality is only sustainable when the scope, cost and time are well managed. Negotiating on any of these invariably leads to decline in quality and hence impacts the success of the project.
Consider the analogy of a time-money-quality triangle: If the project manager chooses to significantly reduce cost, there will be issues concerning quality, or duration of the project, since few resources have been allocated.
In conclusion,
The project management triangle is an elementary framework for controlling the scope to understand the best way of achieving operational goals of the project in terms of cost and time. Due to this, the scope, cost and time model and various aspects of this model can allow a project manager to make right choices and achieve positive results. Expand your expertise with specialised Training Courses in Dubai with the comprehensive range of project management Training Courses. Learn how to apply the best practices in your workplace, for your career and in the global arena.