97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know

Chapter 49. The Holy Trinity of Project Management

MBA, PMP, MCSE, CHP, CHSS. Paul Waggoner

THE SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGER usually defines the role of each team member at the beginning of a new project, documenting why each team member's skills are vital and the general responsibilities each person should anticipate. However, these documents seldom include an explanation of the software project manager's role during the project life cycle.

The challenge for the project manager, especially when working with a new team, is to convey the essence of project management in a 30-minute overview, without overwhelming the team with methodology details.

With a busy organization and team members whose first priority is taking care of their primary work assignment, your challenge as PM is to convey, as concisely as possible, one primary point that team members will take away from your meeting: the "Holy Trinity," also know as the triple constraint.

To introduce this core concept, prepare a slide or other visual depicting the triple constraint. This is an equilateral triangle with its three points labeled Time, Cost, and Scope. Together, they outline a space in their center, which is the project Quality. This geometric representation of the project work illustrates that increasing the length of any one of the three sides forces a corresponding change in at least one of the other sides of the triangle. ...