Some project managers might be familiar with the adage, “Fast, cheap, good: you can only pick two.” While every project goal should shoot far past “good,” this phrase sums up triple constraint project management, where we’re constantly balancing scope, time, and cost to deliver the best possible outcome for the client. It’s a balancing act, or even a three-value sliding scale of sorts, but with this guide on triple constraint for project management, we’ll help you effectively balance these priorities for long-term success.
Understanding the Triple Constraint
Before diving into solutions, it's important to define the three core elements of the triple constraint: time, cost, and scope.
- Time refers to the project schedule, including deadlines, milestones, and delivery dates.
- Cost encompasses the financial resources required to complete a project.
- Scope defines the project’s objectives, deliverables, and required work.
The triple constraint balancing act means 1) ensuring timely task completion while 2) avoiding overspending and 3) remaining flexible enough to absorb scope changes. And project managers face these issues every day.
Redefining the Triple Constraint
Given those definitions, it’s easy to think of these three constraints as challenges. After all, adjusting one will usually come at the expense of another. But rather than a limitation, think of triple constraint as a decision-making framework that helps you balance priorities and deliver better results.
Let’s consider a large commercial building project with a tight deadline. The client wants a six-month completion timeline, and the project management team is already dealing with materials shortages. Using the triple constraint as a framework, the team can balance these sacrifices by tweaking:
- Time (in this case, the non-negotiable): Extending working hours or even adding night shifts allows the project to move forward faster.
- Cost: Since this added people-power will cost more in labor expenses, the project team identifies non-essential design elements to omit, reducing materials costs.
- Scope: With the reduction in materials and essential tasks, the scope scales back, allowing teams to reallocate to other aspects of the project.
In our example, the project management team can use time, cost, and scope values as frameworks and variables, allowing them to shift focus from non-essential tasks (scope) to the non-negotiable six-month completion schedule (time) while finding ways to prevent overspending (costs).
Managing Project Challenges Within the Triple Constraint
1. Delays Happen—Here’s How to Stay Ahead
Your schedule is always an estimation. No matter how much effort you put into it, delays are almost always a given. Bad weather, supply chain challenges, labor shortages, and bottlenecks can push delivery dates out in almost any project.
Solution: Staying on top of your schedule with real-time tracking can keep you ahead of disruptions. Modern project management tools help project teams anticipate delays and make adjustments before they can sidetrack the project. Automated workflows also simplify communication, ensuring that stakeholders stay informed when an issue arises.
2. Budgets Are Always Under Pressure
The rising costs of materials, premium rates caused by labor shortages, and scope changes can turn a budget on its head. These highly common events force project teams to react quickly rather than strategically.
Solution: Utilize budget tracking tools to work with the latest data and predict the future. These programs provide real-time insights into costs and budgets as well as predictive analytics to help catch overruns before they happen. Take manufacturing, for example. Cost-tracking tools can flag rises in raw material prices, tipping off procurement staff to search out better rates or adjust production schedules to stay ahead of budget hits.
3. Scope Creep is the Productivity Killer No One Sees Coming (But Should)
How many projects have gone according to plan without client change requests? Not many. Stakeholders don’t understand the impact of their whims, so tacking on “just one more thing” never seems like a big deal. But, a few too many “things” and you’re looking at a scope of work that the budget and timeline will not support—the very definition of scope creep.
Solution: Have a change process in place and use integrated project planning tools to make scope adjustments without derailing the entire project. Updating scope changes in the software automatically communicates their impact on the budget. These tools make it easier to secure electronic approvals and reduce bottlenecks while ensuring transparent communication.
Mastering the Triple Constraint with Smart Strategies
1. Stay Proactive with Risk Management
Your team can’t just react to issues when they arise. Proactive, regular, ongoing, in-depth risk assessments and management techniques allow you to quickly pivot to a predetermined solution, reducing the impact on scope, budget, or time.
2. Communicate Clearly with Stakeholders
Misalignment and miscommunication create chaos, so it’s important to keep everyone informed and engaged. Collaboration platforms like project management software allow decision-makers and stakeholders to track progress, provide input, and adjust their expectations in real time.
3. Embrace Agile and Flexible Planning
There’s no such thing as a completely rigid plan—every project must adjust to shifting priorities at some point. But embracing agile planning empowers teams to make better decisions through collaboration, visual scheduling techniques, and a detailed planning process. If an issue arises, project management teams can still keep the project on track by shifting priorities and keeping the project moving forward.
4. Automate Where Possible
Automating your most common and crucial processes is one of the best methods for balancing scope, time, and costs. Automated processes ensure updated values throughout the different phases of the project and affected departments. This ensures accurate data, free from human error and omissions. It also frees up your team to focus on execution and strategy, further improving how teams manage the triple constraint.
The Triple Constraint as a Competitive Edge
Instead of dreading the triple constraint as a problem to solve, view it as a framework for making better, faster, and smarter decisions. By leveraging technology, real-time data, ongoing risk management, flexible scheduling, and other best practices, project managers can both balance the triple constraint and turn it into a competitive edge. It is a tool, not a challenge: adopt modern project delivery techniques today to master it.
