Originally Published on allPM.com
As most of us know, the triple constraints represent the three aspects of project results that most interest sponsors and clients cost, quality and time to completion.
These start as constraints (often expressed as project requirements or objectives.)
PM’s seem to constantly face the challenge of starting their projects with constraints that “do not compute."?
One sponsor in a product development environment insists on fast, cheap and good. The PM is caught between that demand and the demands of his development team for more time and money or the acceptance of lesser quality.
The master PM knows that it is his/her job to strike the right balance and “sell"? it to the various parties – the staff, the sponsor, the client and the product managers.
Clients and products managers want speed and quality and are less concerned with current costs. The sponsor is concerned with current cost and wants to satisfy the client as well. If time is of the essence of client or market needs, then the sponsor wants fast, cheap and good.
Everyone squeezes the PM and the delivery team.
What to do?
The first thing to do is to go beyond subjective constraints to concrete objectives - ones that say how much, how fast and what exactly do you mean by quality.
Then, having some idea of what the need is, determine if meeting it is likely, unlikely, or impossible. If it isn’t likely or possible, say so. You might still have the same constraints but when you define the results and the project has gone over budget or taken more time than expected, you will be able to “take the heat"? more easily.
What does “taking the heat"? mean? It means being able to withstand the penalties for not meeting the constraints.
The Zen PM learns to let the fear of being fired or having his/her career ruined or being “yelled at"? arise and pass away. To be controlled by fear is like running a foot race with one hand tied to your ankle.
The Zen PM can always take the heat because the heat is just another condition that can be managed, along with all the other positive or negative thoughts, feelings and events that come and go when managing a project.
The worst thing to do is to deliver a substandard product, even if it is on time and within budget.
The true measure of project success is whether the product meets the business need and delivers promised benefits.
The second worse thing to do is to surprise the sponsor with a big bill or late delivery. Manage expectations.
The Zen PM, on the other hand, will realize that it is better to confront his/her fears and strike a balance among the constraints that leads to the most effective results. What these are depends on the situation. Sometimes quality should be reduced, sometimes the budget blown and sometimes the schedule slipped.
Who decides? Well, ideally it is the decision team made up of the sponsor, client, product manager with the PM acting as facilitator. But, what if the decision team is incapacitated or momentarily irrational? Can the Zen PM take it upon herself/himself to decide?
This writer says yes! Decide. Be as clear about communicating the decision as possible (remember, no surprises) and Just Do It.
When faced with a decision to deliver poor quality in order to meet an irrational schedule, remember the ‘O’ ring from Challenger, Remember GM’s exploding gas tanks; remember bridges that have fallen down and companies that have lost their reputation and market share because PM’s delivered what the spec said was required on time and within budget but failed to satisfy the “real"? need. With these in mind, moderate your fear with your sense of what’s right and decide.
The Zen approach is about balancing ethics, quality, time and cost consciousness to deliver excellence at the right price in the right time. Sometimes that means breaking the rules. Breaking the rules means overcoming fear and behaving responsibly.
