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Project Constraints

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Mahendra Gupta
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There are a number of project constraints that project managers talk about. However, are there any significant constraints that can't be overlooked? If yes, what are they and how to manage them?

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Rafael Davila
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Bhavinbhai, triple constraint does not describe the constraints that exist in most projects.

Time is a constraint in some projects (like preparation of Olympic Games) and project success criterion in others (achive the result ASAP), the same with the project cost.

In time limited project its scope can be also considered as success criterion - to achieve most scope to the certain date.

I would not refer resource constraints to the cost constraints. They can be independent.

Bhavinbhai Lakhani
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Mahendra,

Yes, several significant constraints in project management arecritical and cannot be overlooked. These constraints are often referred to as the "Triple Constraint" or "Iron Triangle" of project management, which consists of:

 

  1. Scope: This defines what needs to be accomplished and the work that must be done to deliver a project. Scope defines the boundaries of the project and what is included or excluded. Managing scope involves ensuring clarity in project objectives, requirements, and deliverables, and controlling changes to prevent scope creep (uncontrolled expansion of project scope).

  2. Time: Time refers to the project schedule or timeline, including deadlines and milestones. Managing time involves creating realistic schedules, setting achievable deadlines, monitoring progress against the schedule, and making adjustments as needed to ensure the timely completion of project activities and deliverables.

  3. Cost: Cost refers to the budget allocated for the project, including resources, materials, and other expenses. Managing costs involves budget estimation, monitoring expenditures, controlling costs within the approved budget, and preventing budget overruns.

These constraints are interconnected, meaning changes to one constraint often impact the others. For example, expanding the project scope typically increases costs and extends the timeline. Similarly, reducing costs might require adjusting the scope or timeline.

 

Thanks,

Bhavinbhai Lakhani
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Mahendra,

Yes, several significant constraints in project management arecritical and cannot be overlooked. These constraints are often referred to as the "Triple Constraint" or "Iron Triangle" of project management, which consists of:

 

  1. Scope: This defines what needs to be accomplished and the work that must be done to deliver a project. Scope defines the boundaries of the project and what is included or excluded. Managing scope involves ensuring clarity in project objectives, requirements, and deliverables, and controlling changes to prevent scope creep (uncontrolled expansion of project scope).

  2. Time: Time refers to the project schedule or timeline, including deadlines and milestones. Managing time involves creating realistic schedules, setting achievable deadlines, monitoring progress against the schedule, and making adjustments as needed to ensure the timely completion of project activities and deliverables.

  3. Cost: Cost refers to the budget allocated for the project, including resources, materials, and other expenses. Managing costs involves budget estimation, monitoring expenditures, controlling costs within the approved budget, and preventing budget overruns.

These constraints are interconnected, meaning changes to one constraint often impact the others. For example, expanding the project scope typically increases costs and extends the timeline. Similarly, reducing costs might require adjusting the scope or timeline.

 

Thanks,

Rafael Davila
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No discussion about constraints is complete without talking about resource constraints.

Rafael Davila
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Please be aware that "similar" constraints work in different ways depending on the software you are using.

Mahendra Gupta
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Yes, it is true that there are a number of project constraints. However, there are six significant constraints that everyone must consider and think of ways to eliminate them. Scope, budget, time, etc.are a few prominent ones. Here is an insightful blog to learn more.

https://www.saviom.com/blog/six-project-constraints-and-ways-to-manage-them/
Patrick Weaver
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There are two uses of the word constraint in project scheduling, one is the effect of various limits in the surrounding environment such as resources and finance Zoltan Palffy has a good list in his answer. 

The other is schedule constraints which are various dates imposed on the schedule to influence the analysis (eg, 'start-no-earlier-than').  There are eleven of these listed in my book Easy CPM with a number of variants. Fixed constraints are not recommended, and are prohibited under the DCMA 14 point checklist. 

Zoltan Palffy
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the amount of available time to perform work in itself is a constraint 

the amount of available resources is a constraint

acceptable noise levels while working is a constraint

limited working hours are a constraint 

cash flow is a constraint

fedaral, state and local regulations are a constraint

the supply chain shortage is a constraint

Rafael Davila
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...

Santosh Bhat
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There is the traditional triple constraints placed on a project - scope, time and cost. That essentially mean, change one and another needs to change - for example, want something cheaper? then either reduce the scope or take longer to complete the project, but you cna't deliver the same scope for reduced cost and time.

 

Other than that, please elaborate further on your question and we can try helping more.