In my Project Management class I emphasize what's often referred to as the Iron Triangle of Project Management. At the risk of over-simplifying, the underlying premise is that every project contains three basic variables: time, quality, and cost. The idea is that you can maximize any two of those three variables, but no matter how hard you try, you can't maximize all three at the same time. The figure below illustrates that
I really like that figure, because it captures in a nutshell several complex concepts. Plus it can be applied to many other contexts. For example, the next figure illustrates what every parent eventually figures out.
Oh well, at least it keeps things from getting boring...
4 comments:
Actually you CAN overcome the itron triangle in the military... :-) My group's motto was Cheaper, better, faster and we routinely kicked procurement's ass on getting new tech into the airplanes!
No doubt that one project team can outperform another. But I still maintain that for a single individual project the relationship among the variables holds. For example, if the implementation time is decreased, either the quality will also decrease or the cost will increase.
Roger that, CTT,
The rule of inverse proportion I heard seems to fit here:
Individual intellegence vs. over-staffed, government entity:
People tend to get dumber as they get into bigger groups.
Oh no question Tim, but we had one hellva group! :-)
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