The Project Triangle

The Project Triangle: A model that shows the constraints of any project. Time, Cost and Scope. This may be your first time to see this triangle or you may have observed or used it many times. This is not intended to be a full explanation of the project triangle, but you should learn enough to apply it to your goals and projects. I’ve used the project triangle in construction, project management for a large and small companies, and I’ve even used it when thinking about my own goals and personal projects.

When evaluating a project or goal it is important to know these three details and which ones are important to you. Cost may not be an issue so you could forget about it. Scope or Value may be of the utmost importance so you know that is non-negotiable. If you’ve ever had an external deadline or a race-day to meet then you know the importance of the time constraint. The problem with the three constraints is that you can’t have it all. You have to pick two and know that the third will not be a priority.

For example, If I am on a tight timeline for a project then I have to keep the speed of completion at a high importance. That leaves me with cost and scope as my variables in the project triangle. For a project with defined scope, I have to sacrifice cost and spend more money to get it done well and quickly. If I am less concerned about the scope or quality then I can keep my costs lower and sacrifice some quality. Now, of course, I could always sacrifice both scope and cost and spend a lot of money on low-quality work but that doesn’t make any sense!

Remember this is not an all or nothing situation. You can place each constraint on a continuum and adjust each accordingly. My wife and I recently needed to speed up the timeline for a remodeling project. We could sacrifice the scope or spend more money to pay someone to do the work rather than do it myself. Instead of going all-in on paying subcontractors, we were able to change our scope requirements a bit and increase the cost just a fraction of our planned cost. We took a huge gain on the timeline and rather than just affecting the scope of the project or cost, we took a little from cost and a little from the scope as to not totally sacrifice either one.

For your goals, whether business or personal, think about what your constraints are and which ones you are willing to sacrifice. Many times, you can sacrifice just a fraction of one side of the triangle to make gains on the other. You just have to know which is your primary and secondary drivers. Feel free to reach out to me if you need help with this idea or any others related to goals and projects.