Project Success Through the Five
Key Project Variables/Constraints
PMI-MN PDD
November 1st, 2007
Jesse Freese
Fissure Corporation
www.fissure.com
1-877-877-6333
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Agenda
Project Success
and the 5 Key
Variables
Major Project
Decision
Drivers
Successfully
Managing the
Trade-offs
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What is your definition of success?
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1
PMI Definition of Success
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Three Key Project Management
Variables
-The Triple Constraint
Cost
Schedule
Scope
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Two More Key Project Management
Variables
-The Quintuple Constraint
Productivity
of your team
Quality
Scope
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2
Balancing the 5 Variables in
the Planning Phase
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Desired Objective vs. Realistic Estimate
Difference in cost and schedule is Risk
Res ource/C ost
Team estimate
Model estimate
Expert estimate
Top down estimate
Schedule
You have management level risk!
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Managing the Project Risk
Difference in cost and schedule is Risk
Resour ce/Cos t
Team estimate
Model estimate
Expert estimate
Top down estimate
Schedule
What can you do to reduce this risk?
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3
Five Key Project Variables Relationship
Schedule
Cost
Budget
Cut
Cost
Schedule
Quality
& People
Quality
& People
Scope
Scope
All five variables are balanced.
Scope and schedule are
adjusted to reflect and stay
in balance with the reduced
cost.
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Balancing the 5 Variables in
the Execution Phase
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Brainstorm 5 major decisions made
by project managers during the
execution phase of a typical project
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4
What are the trade-offs associated
with those major decisions?
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Project Trade-off Matrix
• Better
• Faster
• Cheaper
Pick Two!
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Project Trade-off Matrix
Scope
Cost
Must Meet
Chosen
Adjustable
Only one
checkmark
per row
per column
Schedule
Scope
Fill
in the
blanks
We are
assuming that
the Quality
variable is fixed
Since we must meet ___________,
we will choose a ___________,
and adjust _________ as necessary.
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5
How would you use the Trade-off
Matrix in the Planning phase?
How would you use the Trade-off
Matrix in the Execution phase?
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Trade-off Summary
Pattern
Effect
Minimum Schedule
Lengthen Schedule
Shorten Schedule*
Schedule
Minimum
Longer
Shorter
Effort/Cost
Maximum
Down
Up
Quality
Least
Up
Down
Build Up Fast
Build Up Slow
Shorter
Longer
Up
Down
Down
Up
Reduce Scope
Add Scope
Shorter
Longer
Down
Up
Up
Down
Improve Productivity#
Productivity Falls
Shorter
Longer
Down
Up
Up
Down
* The schedule cannot be shorter than the minimum schedule. Only if we
start the planning process with a schedule longer than the minimum can
we consider shortening it.
# Improving productivity generally takes more time than a typical project
schedule period, unless the productivity is very low
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Conclusion
• Meeting the project scope, cost, schedule and
quality objectives = project success
• Most project decisions will impact multiple
objectives and the trade-offs should drive the
decision
• Managing the trade-offs between objectives
can be managed using a simple Trade-off
Matrix that prioritizes the project objectives
for both the Planning and Execution phases
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