What is Project Management? (Triple Constraint)
ZACH DE GREGORIO, CPA
www.WolvesAndFinance.com
Last week I made a video, and I mentioned the concept of Project Management. I wanted to spend some more time talking about project management, because this is a really practical idea that you can use in your day-to-day job.
Project Management is a whole field of study. You can become a certified project manager. In Project Management you learn a standardized set of tools and reporting that is consistent across the industry. All of these reports help you keep projects on track and communicate your results to your stakeholders.
What I mentioned before was that Project Managers report on three main subject areas. These three main elements form what is known as the Project Management Triangle (otherwise called the Triple Constraint).
• Budget
• Schedule
• Scope
The concept is that all three elements are related. It is easier to imagine this using an actual example. So let us imagine we are building a house. If you want to lower the cost of the house, you could achieve that by accepting the project might take longer to accomplish. Another way to lower cost would be to decrease the scope, like building a smaller house. And if you wanted to speed up the schedule, you could always pay people overtime, and increase the cost.
The problem occurs when people try to impact all three at the same time. Someone might say, “I want a bigger house, in half the time, at half the cost.” They are likely to be disappointed. It is unrealistic to impact one corner of the triangle without making adjustments to the other corners.
Neither Zach De Gregorio or Wolves and Finance Inc. shall be liable for any damages related to information in this video. It is recommended you contact a CPA in your area for business advice.