Project Management: Time - Cost - Quality

 One of the biggest obstacles facing any project manager, whether you are a certified PMP or have just been placed into that role by your company is the TRIANGLE OF TIME COST QUALITY.

Project Managers are faced with the triangle from the very beginning when they are told upfront that their project must be completed on time, must be under budget and must be of the highest quality.

Time, Cost, Quality ARE NOT mutually exclusive; they are in fact, closely interrelated and unavoidable.

For instance, in order for your project to be finished on time, you must hire more people or more expensive equipment...  well, that raises costs...  unacceptable.

It is also entirely possible that if you reduce the time it takes to complete a task, then the quality of that task will be reduced...  well, that saves costs but deceases quality...  unacceptable.

On the other hand, let's say you want to IMPROVE QUALITY...  well, that typically takes more time which increases costs...  unacceptable.

HOWEVER, it is not that simple because if your product is NOT QUALITY MADE, then the customer will not buy it in the volumes you anticipated...  unacceptable.

There are TRICKS of the TRADE that allow you to deal with TIME-COST-QUALITY without violating the triangle to a large degree although though some degradation is always inevitable.

Manipulating start and end of tasks, finding ways to buy in bulk, removing the variation of processes...  some of the skills you will learn as you progress through your experiences.