PMcrunch

What does you organization “tolerate”?  This is an important question to ask because you will know where you have some flexibility, and you will know where you have risks and inflexibility.  You may very well also find out where your organization is lacking, and where it needs some reform in its project management practices to become a much more streamlined, and lean operating machine.  A useful tool for thinking about this is the triple constraint.

Another Perspective on the Triple Constraint
The triple constraint, where project cost, project quality, and project time (or project schedule) pose tradeoffs, is a very common project management concept.   An interesting thing about the triple constraint is that it manifests itself differently in different organizations, and cultures. 

Tolerance for Costs
Some organizations may have a good tolerance for high costs.  This may be true in companies where there is simply a lot of money.  For example, certain type of projects in an energy or pharmaceutical company may be minor from a cost standpoint when taken into perspective from the overall financial picture of the company.  Therefore, in that type of company, high cost is of little significance relative to the payoff.  What does tend to be more important is having things on time and having them of the right quality.  In the oil company example, having something on time may mean more production sooner.  In a pharmaceutical company, it may mean having a drug approval or a breakthrough drug available sooner.

Tolerance for Quality
In some organizations, it is much more important to get something delivered with less concern for quality and more concern for keeping within a cost budget, delivered on time.  Indeed, many situations in which I have operated, it has been more important to have something out there on time, and within budget than to necessarily have it be of high quality.  This may sound very funny, and actually, it feels funny to say it, but I think it is a reality.  There is a saying that often half of winning is just simply showing up.  I think that philosophy fits here where there is a tolerance for variation in quality.

Tolerance for Time
There are still other organizations that want to control cost, that are to keep costs steady and predictable.   They want to control quality, and not settle for just anything, and it does not matter when they get it.  Again, this one seems funny as it does seem odd and uncomfortable to me, to tolerate less than optimal of anything.  However, the triple constraint does tell us that more of something means less of something else.  There is a resource scarcity in the project world.  In this situation, sometimes organizations are willing to let a project go on well past its due date as long as costs are kept in line, and the quality offered is as desired. 

Think Through the Triple Constraint
This is something to think about.  In your organization and on your projects, can you pinpoint something that is tolerated?  Do you have other experiences where undoubtedly something is not tolerated?  Food for thought - and ACTION!
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John Reiling, PMP
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