You may be PMP Certified, and if you are not, you should attend a PMI AuthorizedPMP Exam Prep course, to clear it. But at the same time, you will realize that to be a successful project manager, you must also have some practical insights. You must understand the factors that often act as the major constraints to project management success. Once identified and well defined, you can address them effectively. So let us begin by identifying some of the common ones.

There are many project management constraints. However, out of the many, you need to know about what is popularly known as the triple constraint model.

The triple constraints are as follows:

  • Scope
  • Schedule
  • Cost

Scope

The project scope refers to all the work that needs to be carried out for the project. First, the deliverables must be identified. Then, once they are identified, you must define all the activities to be carried out to create those deliverables including achieving the intermediary milestones. To achieve the best results, you decompose the project (using a model called Work Breakdown Structure) into smaller and more achievable chunks (called Work Packages) so that the overall project can be completed with high level of accuracy and in the best possible manner by planning activities at the work package level.

Schedule (or Time)

Time is one of the most vital resources in project management. It needs to be utilized in the best possible manner. As a project manager, you must meet all the deadlines. If the project is not completed within the expected deadlines, it can often have serious implications. Some of the many are cost escalations. Since time is a critical constraint, you need to have a well-definedschedule management plan. Further, once the plan is executed, you need to closely monitor& control the variances by taking corrective and preventive measures so that the time objective can be met.

Cost

Another common project management constraint is the project cost. You need to ensure that everyone is fully aware of the costs. These need to be estimated rightly upfront. If there are cost overruns, you, as the project manager, need to identify them and ensure that they are diligently monitored & controlled to avoid cost overruns and thus meet the cost objective.

Resources

Along with time, as a project manager, you will realize other categories of resources (e.g., people, machine, material etc.) are also a major constraint for project management success. So, resources have to be used optimally.

Risks

The last but not least thing that needs to be taken care of is the project’s risks. They need to be assessed well, and appropriate steps must be taken to manage them.

Conclusion

To conclude, we can say that project management success does not come easily, and the constraints need to be managed well.