All projects are a function of the three variables.
Never is the phrase "you can't have it all" more appropriate. The visual below, while not specific to project management, frames the project management triangle and the project management dilemma well. If you want it fast, you should expect the effort to take more resources and you may need to sacrifice some requirements. If you want it for less money, you may need to curtail the time frame and sacrifice some requirements. If you want all requirements you may need to add more resources and elongate the time frame.
- Time - We all want it quickly.
- Resources - We all want it at a low cost.
- Requirements - We all want it exactly as specified but with high quality.
Never is the phrase "you can't have it all" more appropriate. The visual below, while not specific to project management, frames the project management triangle and the project management dilemma well. If you want it fast, you should expect the effort to take more resources and you may need to sacrifice some requirements. If you want it for less money, you may need to curtail the time frame and sacrifice some requirements. If you want all requirements you may need to add more resources and elongate the time frame.
One last point about project planning: there are two primary methods.
- Left to right planning - where you allow the time frame to determine the implementation date.
- Right to left planning - where you have a specific implementation date so you configure the variables in the triangle to meet that date.