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TRIPLE CONSTRAINT and SCOPE CREEP |
Many of the Success criteria in a Software Project can be defined by meeting goals that tie back to the Triple Constraint - Time, Cost/Resources, and Scope.
Projects are steered by the business needs of an organization…
…and influenced by the Triple Constraint.
Time relates to the delivery period of the project – the due dates. Resources refer to the allocated budget, or the determination of what a project can be expected to Cost, and Scope defines the deliverables of the project itself – what the finished product will look like.
There will always be change in a project, and factors that you have no control over.
In a dynamic world, and a dynamic industry…
…Change is unavoidable.
Change Control is a huge responsibility of a Project Manager.
You must control changes to the project’s Schedule, Scope, and the impact on its Resources
Scope Creep is the tendency for the requirements of a project to grow past the initial Scope Statement and Verification
Two of the three top factors identified by the Standish Group as Scope Problems were
Lack of User Input, and Incomplete Requirements and Specifications
According to the Standish Group, Scope Creep is the third most common Project Problem!
Scope Creep is one of the reasons why you must:
- spend the necessary time in the definition of the project’s scope
- verify the scope with the stakeholders.
There is no such thing as a Free Lunch!
There is ALWAYS a trade-off within the Triple Constraint – a change to the Scope of a project always changes the Time and/or Cost.
If there are no trade-offs – there can be no successful change!
Time can be the Greatest obstacle in Project Management, and Scope Creep hits the Time constraint the hardest.
A recent CHAOS report from the Standish Group states that the average time overrun on unsuccessful IT projects was 222%.
Time is easily and simply measured. Time.passes…and it is the Constraint that has the least amount of flexibility.
You can add resources…
You can change scope…
But you cannot turn back the clock...
...And there are some tasks that absolutely will take a certain amount of time!
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