Triple constraint in project management

¶ … Security and the Triple Constraint

One of the most difficult aspects involved with successfully managing an information technology (IT) project is achieving a practical sense of balance between a complex set of competing priorities. Experienced IT professionals have learned firsthand that various limitations, including budget restrictions and impending deadlines, can severely impact their ability to fully satisfy a project's primary objectives. A consensus has emerged within the field of IT research which holds that "every project is constrained in different ways by its scope, time, and cost goals," and collectively "these limitations are sometimes referred to in project management as the triple constraint" (Schwalbe, 2011). Recognizing the effects that the triple constraint will have on every project one embarks on is essential to properly managing the intricate interplay of complementary resources required by modern IT projects. Perhaps the most daunting dilemma posed to IT project managers by the triple constraint concept is the fact that one branch of the structural tree, either scope, time, or cost, typically be prioritized above the others if optimal performance is to be reached. When IT experts state unequivocally that "managing the triple constraint involves making trade-offs between scope, time, and cost goals for a project" (Schwalbe, 2011), this knowledge is derived firsthand from past failures, and aspiring information security analysts should take this advice to heart. While elegant solutions to systemic flaws may present themselves as a result of diligent research and improvisational brainstorming, the triple constraint all but assures that as an IT professional, you will be forced to remain adaptable, working within the confines of each project's unique set of limiting factors.

Throughout my experience working as a fledgling member of my firm's IT staff, I have witnessed the detrimental effects that the triple constraint can exert on an otherwise properly planned and implemented IT project. When senior managers elected to fully integrate our company's in-house communication software, so that every employee utilized the shared and secured platform of Gmail's Google Chat feature rather than a random assortment of vulnerable personal accounts, the IT team was assigned to the task of removing the obsolete software from each hard drive and updating the company's array of servers. While this project initially appeared to be quite straightforward in nature, requiring only a basic level of IT knowledge and know-how, our inability to prepare for the triple constraint caused several unlikely contingencies to arise. Despite the allotment of a finite amount of time to complete this transition to Gmail's chat feature, in this case seven working days, my project manager mistakenly believed that individual employees could be trusted with the task of uninstalling their own chat program's from company hard drives. This plan was developed with the goal of saving time at the forefront, but instead of streamlining the process and increasing efficiency, we were dismayed to learn that the majority of employees either failed or refused to conduct a proper uninstall and program removal. Rather than save time, this strategic blunder cost the IT team three working days and ultimately forced my team and I to work overtime as we personally visited each computer bank and uninstalled the offending programs. By failing to take the triple constraint into account, my project manager unwittingly illustrated the importance of balancing scope, time, and cost within the management of any IT project.