Program Management for Open Source Projects

Find the Balance

Problem: Every decision you make is a trade-off, but you’re not sure what’s being traded.

Fundamentally, project managers make trade-offs to balance the different aspects of the project: scope, time, cost, and quality. The first three are often referred to as the “iron triangle.” This is a poor metaphor for two reasons. First, it is supposed to reflect the fact that changing one will change the other two. Your project can be done fast and cheap, but it’ll be small. Or it can be massive in scope and done quickly, but that will cost a lot. But iron isn’t known for being particularly flexible. If you make a triangle out of iron, you don’t get to adjust it.

Secondly, quality is left out. You can adjust quality independently of ...