Weekly Questions - Week 12

1. Explain the triple constraint and its importance in project management.


The triple constraint involves making tradeoffs between scope, time and cost for a project. It is inevitable in a project life cycle that there will be changes to the scope, time or cost of the project. These three variables are interdependent: You cannot change one without changing the others. Project management is the science of making intelligent trade-offs among time, cost, and scope.

2. Describe the two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning

Two primary diagrams used in project planning include PERT and Gantt charts

1. PERT chart – a graphical network model that depicts a project’s tasks and the relationships between those tasks

2. Gantt chart – a simple bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar

3. Identify the three primary areas a project manager must focus on managing to ensure success

A project manager must focus on managing three primary areas to ensure success:

1. Managing people

2. Managing communications

3. Managing change



4. Outline 2 reasons why projects fail and two reasons why projects succeed

Fail:

- Failure to align project with organizational objectives

- Poor scope

Succeed:

- Project Sponsorship at executive level

- Good project charter