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A schematic of the triple constraint triangle.

In this triangle, each side represents one of the constraints (or related constraints) wherein any changes to any one side cause a change in the other sides. The best projects have a perfectly balanced triangle. Maintaining this balance is difficult because projects are prone to change. For example, if scope increases, cost and time may increase disproportionately. Alternatively, if the amount of money you have for your project decreases, you may be able to do as much, but your time may increase.

Your project may have additional constraints that you are facing, and as the project manager you have to balance the needs of these constraints against the needs of the stakeholders and against your project goals. For instance, if your sponsor wants to add functionality to the original scope you will very likely need more money to finish the project or if they cut the budget you have to reduce the quality of your scope and if you don’t get the appropriate resources to work on your project tasks you will have to extend your schedule because the resources you have take much longer to finish the work.

You get the idea; they are all dependent on each other. Think of all of these constraints as the classic carnival game of Whac-a-mole ( [link] ). Each time you try to push one mole back in the hole, another one pops out. The best advice is to rely on your project team to keep these moles in place!

Go to www.dorneypark.com/public/online_fun/mole.cfm to play Whac-a-mole.

Here is an example of a project that cut quality because the project costs were fixed. The P-36 oil platform ( [link] ) was the largest floating production platform in the world capable of processing 180,000 barrels of oil per day and 7.2 million cubic meters of gas per day. Located in the Roncador Field, Campos Basin, Brazil the P-36 was operated by Petrobras.

The Petrobras P-36 oil platform.

In March 2001, the P-36 was producing around 84,000 barrels of oil and 1.3 million cubic meters of gas per day when it became destabilized by two explosions and subsequently sank in 3900 feet of water with 1650 short tons of crude oil remaining on board, killing 11 people.

The sinking is attributed to a complete failure in quality assurance and pressure for increased production led to corners being cut on safety procedures. It is listed as one of the most expensive accidents with a price tag of $515,000,000.

The following quote is from a Petrobras executive, citing the benefits of cutting quality assurance and inspection costs on the project, while the accompanying pictures are the result of this proud achievement in project management by Petrobras.

"Petrobras has established new global benchmarks for the generation of exceptional shareholder wealth through an aggressive and innovative program of cost cutting on its P36 production facility."
"Conventional constraints have been successfully challenged and replaced with new paradigms appropriate to the globalized corporate market place."
"Through an integrated network of facilitated workshops, the project successfully rejected the established constricting and negative influences of prescriptive engineering, onerous quality requirements, and outdated concepts of inspection and client control."
"Elimination of these unnecessary straitjackets has empowered the project's suppliers and contractors to propose highly economical solutions, with the win-win bonus of enhanced profitability margins for themselves."
"The P36 platform shows the shape of things to come in the unregulated global market economy of the 21 st century."

The dynamic trade-offs between the project constraint values has been humorously but accurately described in [link] .

A sign seen at an automotive repair shop.

Bibliography

  • CHAOS 2009 Summary and EPPM Study , The Standish Group, Boston, MA (2009).

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Source:  OpenStax, Project management. OpenStax CNX. Aug 05, 2016 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11120/1.10
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