The Six Dimensions of Project Management

Turning Constraints into Resources

Michael S. Dobson, Heidi A. Feickert

• Editore: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Anno: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781567263909
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Business
• Categoria: Investments & Securities

Master the Six Dimensions of the Project Management Universe!
Learn how to turn constraints into resources to achieve project objectives! Through case studies and practical exercises, The Six Dimensions of Project Management demonstrates the six possible combinations (or dimensions) of the "hierarchy of constraints"" (time, cost, and performance existing in a hierarchy of driver, middle and weak constraint) and the specific set of challenges and opportunities associated with each. Project managers will learn how to recognize a project's dimension and, by understanding its set of problems and resources, get the job done on time, on budget, and to spec!You will uncover hidden flexibility, unlock valuable new resources, discover threats before they turn into problems, and win the admiration of customers and projects sponsors alike. You'll learn:
•How to use the "inner purpose" of a project to empower project mangers and team players
•Why certain kinds of failure point the way to higher levels of success
•What creates opposition to your project—and how to leverage it for your benefit
•Where to look to find creative opportunities on every project

SECTION 1

The Triple Constraints

Einstein’s Three Rules of Work:

1. Out of clutter, find simplicity.

2. From discord, find harmony.

3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

—Albert Einstein (attributed)

CHAPTER 1

Into the Sixth Dimension!

We grow sometimes in one dimension and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another.

—Anais Nin

Management writers have pillaged the lives of leaders both real (Attila the Hun) and fictional (Jean-Luc “Make-It-So” Picard of the starship Enterprise) to illustrate the principles of management effectiveness, even going so far as to call our attention to the royal companions of Oz who join Dorothy in her quest to find the wizard: what a leader I could be “if I only had a brain … a heart … the noive!”¹

Project management is a discipline of the trenches, however, not of the classroom. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge^® (PMBOK^® Guide²) notwithstanding, that which is valuable and vital in the project management body of knowledge was developed primarily by practicing project managers, with the peculiar heroism that is specific to the breed. Traditionally, the project manager struggles with inadequate resources and a too-tight schedule while striving toward excellence—and surprisingly often achieves it. And this achievement comes in the face of a lack of sufficient formal positional authority, customers who may not know what they want (but who nevertheless recognize when you don’t give it to them), and an environment in which project objectives mutate like fungus in a cheap horror movie.

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

We learn from those who have gone before us. Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I see farther than other men, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.” Pablo Picasso made this advice operational: “Mediocre artists borrow. Great artists steal.” Acquiring and learning from role models is an acceptable form of thievery. We learn positive lessons from others’ successes and cautions from others’ failures. To which we add Carl Sagan: “[T]he fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”

As we take arms against a sea of project management troubles, we pit our brain, our heart, and our nerve against the triple constraints of time, cost, and performance (see Figure 1-1). Let us stand on the shoulders of Isaac Newton’s giants, learn from Carl Sagan’s bozos, and (pace Picasso) practice pilfering project management ideas wherever they may be found.

Our guiding principle here will be: Why do things the hard way? What can we learn from those who have gone before? Some projects, to be sure, go more or less according to plan, and problems are manageable. More often, it sometimes seems, a project is like the S.S. Minnow, a vast wasteland. Your planned three-hour cruise gets hijacked by an unexpected storm, and all too soon you find yourself cast away with a big pile of unopened FedEx boxes on a desert isle talking to a painted volleyball about your problems.

Take these begged, borrowed, or stolen insights and apply them operationally. “Operational” comes from military use and in this context will be used to identify what I can learn from others and apply as a rule of thumb, so that my project and I don’t end up cast away on that deserted isle.

The experiences of others build the tools of project management, allowing us to excavate hidden resources and opportunities within each project. Unlocking the mysteries of the critical path, we find slack and the ability to reallocate resources. Through effective risk planning, we eliminate many problems before they have a chance to occur. From the triple constraints, we discover the central reason for the project and find a hidden source of flexibility and creative opportunity.

These last two—flexibility and creative opportunity—we argue, are the essential tools for maximizing project results.

GOOD, FAST, OR CHEAP? PICK TWO

The triple constraints derive from the three essential questions of project management:

• “How long do I have?

• “How much can I spend? (money and resources)

• “What exactly does this puppy have to do, anyway?”

Answering these questions is the first concern of a project manager, and they relate to this fundamental—yet surprisingly unexplored—concept in project management. The triple constraints derive from the definition of a project in the PMBOK^® Guide: “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.”³

Fig. 1-1. The three fundamental constraints of time, cost, and performance set the borders of your project universe.

The PMBOK^® Guide section 1.2, which contains this definition, also identifies by implication another important characteristic of projects: they take place inside organizations. And in every organization, from the time of the pyramids down to the present day, regardless of subject matter or sector, there is a practically infinite amount of useful, desirable stuff that needs to be done (for projects and ongoing work), and finite resources with which to do them. It follows, therefore, that every time we give you a dollar, or a body, or a week for your project, that’s a dollar, a body, or a week we can’t give someone else for a job that also has merit.

The result is scarcity, and scarcity gives us the triple constraints: a deadline, a budget, and at least a minimum level of acceptable performance. Choices must be made, priorities must be set, and project managers must still get the job done. When the going gets tough, the tough get going (and sometimes that means getting your résumé spruced up so you can go on your own timetable).

For project managers from the novice to the most experienced and senior, triple constraints issues are at the core of the most crucial decisions about a project. Reading them correctly can unlock huge resources that make impossible projects possible. Failure to understand them, interpret them, and exploit them correctly can doom your project, even if all else is done to a high standard of excellence.

Why is this so? First and foremost, it occurs because managing projects is the art of creating a deliverable under difficult and in some cases impossible constraints. There is little we cannot accomplish given unlimited stores of time and wealth along with extremely flexible project requirements. But that, of course, is seldom the project manager’s lot in life.

Moreover, the constraints lead us to that most valuable of project management benefits: the discovery of hidden resources and opportunities within the established boundaries.

The secret of the triple constraints, to our great fortune, is that they are not equally constraining. They exist in a hierarchy of driver, middle, and weak constraint. The driver must be met or the project fails. The weak, at the other extreme, has the greatest flexibility, and that flexibility gives us opportunity. What’s worst? Miss a deadline, go over budget, or fail to deliver every iota of the expected performance? In practice, it all depends on the situation.

On any given project, the triple constraints form themselves into a natural hierarchy. As the joke says, “Do you want it good, fast, or cheap? Pick two.” There’s normally a reason why a particular hierarchy produces the best outcomes. Six possible combinations offer different challenges and different opportunities. All projects of the same pattern (for example, time, cost, and performance) have important characteristics in common: challenges, opportunities, and management issues. These are the “six dimensions” of project management and of this book’s title (see Table 1-1).

By learning to recognize the proper hierarchy and constraints for your project (your project dimension) and knowing the most likely problems and some special resources each dimension offers, you’ll have more tools to help you get the job done on time, on budget, to spec, and with a happy customer at the end.

Table 1-1. The Six Dimensions of the Triple Constraints

THE $64,000 QUESTION⁴

We don’t do projects for our health. As Woody Allen observed in another context (it’s the joke with which he ends Annie Hall), we do it because we need the eggs. We need the output of the project, the benefit that the project is intended to supply. The goal of the project, not the project itself, is the prime mover. Don’t forget it.

So what’s the $64,000 question? It’s “Why?” Why are we doing this project? Why not a different project? Why this direction? Why this outcome? Why these specifications? Why not other ones?

The driver of the project isn’t chosen or decided on but is rather discovered growing organically out of the project’s purpose. What must we accomplish to be successful—or, contrawise, what failures might be fatal to our project? And remember, if the customer or client hasn’t figured out the purpose enough to explain the “why” when asked, then it’s a dangerous idea to start the project. Customers who don’t know what they want at the outset always seem to know when you haven’t delivered what they want at the end.

Interestingly, the 2004 PMBOK^® Guide shows a content shift from the 2000 PMBOK^® Guide, recognizing a need to identify the “why” behind a project.⁵ We predict that asking the question “why” will increasingly become standard among project management best practices.

HOLDING YOUR HORSES

Although the fundamental concept of the triple constraints is fairly straightforward, its implications are numerous and sometimes subtle, and they often come as a surprise to project managers, even quite senior ones. The study of the triple constraints is one of the most overlooked fundamentals of project management. On its foundation, you can build a substantial and powerful understanding of your project that can empower you through a wide ...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• About the Author
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• SECTION 1 THE TRIPLE CONSTRAINTS
• SECTION 2 THE SIX DIMENSIONS
• SECTION 3 ISSUES AND CONCLUSIONS
• Bibliography
• Index