The Project Management Triangle
The most basic structure for project management is called the PM triangle. As with any project that requires a group of humans to reach towards a goal, a project must be completed successfully under specific circumstances.
While there are many circumstances or constraints that a project may face, three of the best known as cost, scope, and time. It is these three factors that form the structure of the PM triangle. When the constraints are refined to a much higher degree, performance can also be thought of as the fourth constraint. The time constraint involves how much time is available to complete a given project.
The cost constraint involves the amount of money or resources that has been set in a budget for the project, and the scope constraint is basically used to define the things that have to be done in order for the project to be completed successfully.
As you would expect, the constraints for any two projects are not exactly the same. In addition to this, the constraints discussed so far will often be in fierce competition with the others. For example, when a team decides to increase the scope of the project, this means that both time and cost will rise as well. If time is short, then this also means that the cost will be high, but the scope could be small.
In situations where the team is working with a small budget, they will have their time increased, but their scope will be decreased. Project management is a very important because it involves the provision of techniques and tools which will allow the team, as opposed to just the PM, to structure their work so that it is possible for them to meet the three constraints introduced.
In addition to these three factors, one of the most important aspects of a project is the WBS, or Work Break Down structure. The WBS uses what is called a tree structure for project composition.
The Work Breakdown Structure
The WBS is responsible for showing a collection for effort which is necessary for a team to achieve its goals. This could come in the form of getting a program, as well as a contract. While the WBS can be connected to the development of hardware, it may also be connected to the development of services or processes as well.
When it comes to projects for contracts, the WBS will start with a number of things, and some of these things include the end goal, and breaking the project into components which are manageable. It will split up tasks in terms of duration, size, and who is responsible for them. A number of steps will also be available so that the task can be completed properly.
The WBS is critical because it offers a standard framework when it comes to the properly development, planning, an control of a project, and it is the foundation that most teams use when it comes to breaking down the workload into parts which can be completed incrementally.
Despite this, projects are not complete when teams do not make use of the project control variables. To understand this, you must be able to understand one of the main goals of project management, which is to capture control over a variety of different variables, most notably risk. There are a number of potential areas for failure, and these are described as being risks that are negative.
Variables For Project Control
The vast majority of risks can be successfully overcome, but this will require the proper amount of planning for capabilities, as well as for resources and time. Based on some definitions, risk may be defined as being positive, which means that there may be some potential opportunities which come with it.
Typically, these opportunities will allow the project to be successfully completed much faster than what was originally anticipated. It is often possible for both the customers as well as other organizations to have an effect on the three primary project management variables. The risk which remains is largely controlled by the team itself.
