Project Management The main point of project management is the concept of an “Ir
ID: 396520 • Letter: P
Question
Project Management
The main point of project management is the concept of an “Iron Triangle” where you can do trade-off analysis between cost, schedule, and performance. Research this concept online.
Then, address the following: (in the U.S.)
1. Provide a realistic example of a trade-off, where one of these three items is optimized at the detriment of the other two items.
2. Explain why you selected the one item to optimize.
3. Explain how you will work to mitigate adverse impact from the reduction in the other two areas of the Iron Triangle.
Explanation / Answer
The iron triangle in Project Management is used in business organizations to analyze and understand various complications that may arise during the implementation of a specific project and is used to explain the relationships between time, cost, and scope (Project Management Triangle, n.d.). Due to the close link between the variables within the iron triangle, the laws of project management state that if one of these variables changes, either of the other variables will be affected; which ultimately impacts the quality and outcome of a project (Smith, C., n.d.).
The time variable looks at the amount of that it takes to complete a project and is dependent on several factors within an organization, such as the amount of workers available and experience of these workers etc. Failure to meet specific deadlines within a project can have negative effects and can often occur due to lack of resources. Cost refers to whether or not a project and the activities within meet a predetermined amount. In order to meet deadlines, additional resources can sometimes be awarded to certain areas and can ultimately affect the overall cost of a project. Scope refers to the overall performance and the outcome for which is to take place within a project. The performance of activities within a project can heavily impact the time and cost that it takes to complete a project (Project Management Triangle, n.d.).
A realistic example of a trade-off can be seen within a project that I had recently undertaken during my current employment. I currently work for an accounting/consulting firm and we take on various types of projects that often change, whether in respect to the cost, schedule, or overall performance required by our clients. Recently, a new client was obtained and specific jobs were requested by the client in order to obtain a more accurate look at the financial standing of their company.Upon taking on new clients, an engagement letter is completed, which specifies the time, cost, and performance of the activities requested by the client. The original request by the client was already underway and was on track to be completed according to plan. A month after the projects start, the client comes back with further requests; all of which requires more time, effort, and costs in order to complete.
These new requests called for higher performance, or scope, and altered the overall schedule and cost of the job. Simply put, in order to optimize our performance on the jobs requested and meet specified deadlines, our firm needed to increase the amount of time put in by our employees and the costs associated with this specific engagement. This specific variable was not necessarily chosen to be optimized, but was more along the lines of being forced onto our firm. Due to these new requests, a new engagement letter needed to be completed and new terms needed to be agreed upon. There wasn’t a way to meet the needs of our client without sacrificing the time and costs associated with the various projects requested. In order to mitigate the adverse impact that these new requests had on the overall schedule and costs of the project for this client, employees with experience and knowledge were placed on this project in order to optimize those variables. In addition to this, associates were put on the project to complete lower end tasks who did not have as high of an hourly wage as the other individuals on the project. This ultimately maintained the performance without having a detrimental impact on the schedule and costs related to the project.
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