The Iron Triangle of project management

Legendary climber Alex Honnold would make a great project manager.

Why?

The guy has balance:

Project management feels like this sometimes.

A balancing act with your back against the wall.

I love to climb (on a rope, don’t worry!) and it makes me think about the balance we seek in our projects.

I move my right foot just a few centimeters. As I do that, I have to shift my weight over to my left hand. I can’t move anything in isolation. If one moves, everything else has to move too.

Just like in your project.

If your scope changes, your budget, and timeline will be affected. Ignore that, and you’ll come down crashing.

In project management, this balancing act is called the Iron Triangle.

I think that this idea is a little outdated, and propose an update.

Let’s see how you can use it to boost your project success!

Before we dive in, I have a quick favor to ask.

Last week, the open rate of the newsletter dropped by 28% without any explanation. Probably an over-eager spam filter.

Please help to keep this newsletter alive. All I’m asking is that you reply and tell me what you had for breakfast.

For me? Coffee. I’m not a big eater before my workouts.

By generating as many unique responses to the newsletter as possible, the spam filters will see I’m not a robot and that you enjoy reading this every week.

Thanks in advance! 🙏

The iron triangle of project management

The iron triangle is a fundamental concept that explains the relationship between three primary constraints: time, cost, and scope.

In the classic iron triangle theory for project management, quality is a function of the three constraints.

Want something fast and cheap? That means it will be small scope or low quality. Want it complex and fast? You better bring a big budget or accept low quality.

In other words, you can optimize for two constraints - not three.

Either the third constraint will suffer, or the quality will.

Your choice.

It all boils down to how you define quality

This idea is outdated.

Let’s look at software for example: you can have a really small scope, be fast & cheap, and still deliver high quality.

For physical goods, this doesn’t work so well. A highway bridge with a scope reduced to 1 lane to be fast & cheap might be of perfect quality, but it doesn’t mean project success.

Your definition of quality is an integral part of your project success - not a function of it. It’s good enough, or it’s not.

And that’s where the triangle becomes a diamond.

What I’m arguing for is this:

You should let go of the classic idea of “pick two, not three”.

Quality is not a function of time, scope, and budget. Instead, think of quality as the 4th constraint that you need to stay within

Here’s how it works:

Project success = stakeholder satisfaction

Your project's success is defined early on. We’ve covered that in this newsletter about “What” - creating benefits and a measurable definition of success.

What goes into that definition of success?

You guessed it: these four constraints.

Time, scope, quality, and budget.

All those 4 elements are part of your project plan. And your project is successful if you satisfy your stakeholders within these constraints.

That’s how value is created.

In simple terms: deliver in scope, on time, but over budget? No success!

Delivering on time, within budget, and of great quality, but without meeting the scope? No success!

You need to meet all 4 criteria.

Here’s how you use this to your advantage…

If you touch one, you touch all four

Projects change. It’s just a matter of when - not if.

But this is where my whiteboard scribbles come in handy.

Let’s say you have to make a scope change…

(future issue on change management coming up!)

If you don’t adjust the budget, time plan, and quality definition, your project will never succeed. Your stakeholders will never be fully satisfied.

You see, your project success sits in the middle of this diamond. So as the project changes, you need to change all the criteria to stay within them!

Quick question: what was your first cellphone?

Mine was a Nokia 3310.

Calling was way too expensive, so all I did was play Snake.

Project management is like a game of Snake. Stay between the walls, or it’s game over!

Great, so how do you do that?

Whenever you change ONE of the four key elements, you must revisit the other three and see what the impact is.

See it as the 4 dials you have that you can turn to deliver project success.

1. You can take more time

2. You can use more money

3. You can reduce the scope

4. You can reduce the quality

It’s your job to choose which dial you turn.

In most projects, some of these are fixed. Others are more flexible.

If you can’t touch the deadline or use more money, you’ll have to choose between reducing the scope or lowering the quality.

Got infinite money but the other three are fixed? Your sponsor might not understand this, but just throwing money at something doesn’t always fix the problem.

You can’t make a baby in 1 month if you have 9 mothers, right?

More money usually means that one (or more!) of the other constraints will have to change, too.

The best solution will depend on your context and situation, but remember this: touch one, and you touch all four.

It’s a balancing act.

Work with me!

My firm Raundalen Consulting is accepting two new clients for May. If you’re an SMB or scaleup that struggles to turn its ideas and strategies into results, I got you covered.

I help leaders like you put strategy execution & project management frameworks in place, so you get the right things done in your company. Make execution your unfair advantage and schedule a discovery call today!

That’ll do for this week!

With so much talk about quality, it’s about time we dive into how we define that. That’s up for next week - get ready to negotiate!

Cheers,

Jasper