Triple Constraints of Project Management

Project success greatly depends on whether or not constraints set for project are satisfied. The triple constraints of project management are Scope, Time and Cost. A project with time constraints can be called successful if project is delivered within specified time. Similarly projects with scope or cost constraint will be called successful projects if scope or cost constraints are satisfied respectively project management and AI.

The triple constraints of project management are explained below with examples:

1. Scope Constraint: Projects with scope constraint require adherence to initially determined technical specifications. An example where scope would be more important than time and cost would be a project for developing software for doing mathematical calculations (say accounting), no matter how much time and cost it takes to create such software, it needs to perform those calculations correctly, compromises cannot be made with scope.
2. Cost Constraint: Projects with cost constraint requires project to be completed within allocated budget. Example of project with cost constraint would be developing a fixed price project for any organization. Say if a restaurant business may want a website only for fame and glory and might not want much functionality and not have any time constraints, but might want to spend only a fixed amount for website. In this scenario, with limited functionality expectation set already, it would be okay to extend the schedule if required to keep cost under control.
3. Time Constraint: Projects with time constraints must be completed within specified duration. An example where time would be more important than scope and cost would be a project for creating software for conducting online exam the date for which has already been published to students. So even if it takes more resources to complete the project before published exam dates and even if some functionality needs to be compromised, the project needs to be completed before exam date, completing project after published date will not be affordable in such scenario.