Nehru Nagappan on: Balancing the Project Driver

Nehru Nagappan on: Balancing the Project Driver (Time, Cost, Quality)

BACKGROUND

Many a time, deadlines were thrown at the Project Managers, regardless of the size of the project, without looking at the other two important factors (drivers) of the project.  

Most of the time, Project Managers accepted the "reality" that they had to finish the project on time, with the best quality product, at the cheapest price possible!  This is a bad practice.    

Project Managers are constantly put on a dilemma of placing DEADLINE as a priority, as compared to the project Cost, or Project Quality as the driver.   Realize that MOST of the project does not fall under the category of 'deadline' as the Project Driver.  Hitting the deadline is NOT the only criteria in projects.

We need to choose which; among the three drivers (Cost, Quality, Time) is the MOST important DRIVER of the project.   Of course, Senior Management would say that all are important! We need to absolutely meet the deadline, at the cheapest cost, and with the best Quality possible.

But in reality, this is not possible.  

• We only need to choose ONE of the driver when we manage a project.  
• And when we choose the ONE driver, the other TWO drivers will (need to) be compromised

Let's look at a few scenarios:

TIME as the Project Driver

• If the project driver is TIME, then the organization (i.e. Project Manager) must put in ALL the effort, time and life, in ensuring that the project meets the deadline - AT ALL COST!
• Missing the deadline would results in embarrassment to the company, or possibly losing lives.
• Realize this – in meeting the TIME project driver, the Project may have to increase resource to meet the deadline (i.e. sacrificing COST), and may reduce the scope of testing and quality efforts (i.e. sacrificing QUALITY)
• Time as the Driver = Quality ▼, Cost ▲
• Examples of project of such nature would be:

• Y2K project: deadline is FIXED on Dec 31, 1999.   No compromise.  All defects must be fixed by then to avoid the Y2K implications.  Missing this deadline may result in embarrassment to the organization, and possible loss of life.
• Formula 1 race in Malaysia (e.g. Mar 23/24/25).   Can we postpone the race to a Monday on Mar 26?   We simply can't... because that would mean losing sponsorship, losing viewership, embarrassment to the country as a host, among other losses.
• Annual New Year Concert on New Year eve (Dec 31, 2012).   Can we afford to postpone the event by another day?   We simply can't.  The New Year event has a fixed date, i.e. Dec 31st.    Postponing this event may results in revenue losses, and potentially embarrassment to the organizers.

QUALITY as the Project Driver

• If the project driver is QUALITY, then the organization (i.e. Project Manager) must put in ALL the effort, time and life, in ensuring that the project meets the defined QUALITY STANDARDS - AT ALL COST!
• Compromising on the Quality would result in embarrassment to the company, or possibly loss of lives.
• Realize this – in meeting the QUALITY project driver, the Project may have to increase resource to meet the quality objective (i.e. sacrificing COST), and may increase / extend the project deadlines (i.e. sacrificing TIME)
• Quality as the Driver = Time ▲, Cost ▲
• Examples of project of such nature would be:

• Launching of A380 Airbus to the new market.   Testing the plane in ensuring highest standard of quality would be the utmost importance, compared to meeting a delivery deadline.   Compromising this may results in potential disasters and compromising the safety and lives of passengers.
• Operations and surgical procedures.   Same as above example, the deadline is not important.   The quality of the surgery is most important, to prevent loss of live.

COST as the Project Driver

• If the project driver is COST, then the organization (i.e. Project Manager) must put in ALL the effort, time and life, in ensuring that the project is delivered based on the budget set.
• Compromising on the budget may result in embarrassment to the company (i.e. to the stakeholders).
• It would be ideal of the budgeted/allocated cost is lower than the project cost.  However, this is not the case in most projects.
• Realize this – in meeting the COST project driver, the Project may have to reduce resource to meet the cost objective (i.e. sacrificing COST), and may reduce the quality objectives and number of tests carried out (i.e. sacrificing QUALITY), and may have to reduce the deadline to ensure speedier delivery and reduced cost (i.e. sacrificing TIME).
• Cost as the Driver = Time ▼, Quality ▼
• Examples of project of such nature would be:
• CFO providing RM100,000 to implement a high-tech Intrusion Prevention System.  Can be achieved, however, we might not be able to get the sophisticated and high end Intrusion Prevention System.   While cost objectives are met, security (i.e. Quality) may be compromised.

DO NOT ACCEPT DEADLINE AS THE DE-FACTO PROJECT DRIVER

• As you can see above examples, MOST of the projects would not fall under the DEADLINE driver. 
• You would need to ask yourselves if by compromising the Project Driver, would result in embarrassment to the organization and/or loss of life.
• Missing a fictitious deadline set arbitrarily may not be a real life of death situation.  
• Organizational KPI’s are not Project Deadlines.  It’s a performance indicators.  You may want to split your project into a few phases of KPI’s (i.e. split the project into multiple phases/years).

ALWAYS NEGOTIATE WITH PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS

• Education and awareness is important.  Do not expect Senior Management to understand the concept of Project Drivers.
• It is the role of the Project Manager, as the subject matter expert, to advice the Senior Management and/or project stakeholders, on the Project Driver.
• Use a RISK-based model to present the impact of the Project Drivers to the stakeholders.

BE THE COMMANDER OF YOUR PROJECT

• The success (or failure) of a project depends very much on your capability in steering your project.
• Accepting a fictitious driver which is predetermined by someone else, who does not appreciate or aware of the project management principles, may result in project failures, and loss of reputation for the Project Manager and your team.

Nehru Nagappan

Chief Executive Officer

Project Leadership Academy Sdn Bhd

For more info on Project Management Training and Consultancy, feel free to contact Nehru Nagappan at nehru.nagappan@gmail.com or +6-019-3045392