Business
Project Management
What are the critical bases/dimensions of a project’s goals?
Project goals are defined along three critical measurable bases or dimensions: specification, time and cost objectives. In project management this is known as the triple constraint. The triple constraint involves making tradeoffs between scope, time and cost of a project. It is predictable in a project life cycle that there will be changes to the scope, time or cost of the project. Most projects fail when one of the areas changes and appropriate adjustments are not made to the other areas (Hutchings, n.d.). It is very important in order to have successful projects that these three dimensions be monitored closely. It has to be accepted from the beginning that there will be change and having a good change management plan in place from the beginning is the way to ensure that success is attained.
Why is it critical that these goals be measurable?
It is critical that these goals be measureable so that one can see if they are drifting off course or not. It is important to monitor scope change so that scope creep does not occur. The advancement of scope to introduce more requirements that are not included in the initial planning of the project whilst maintaining the same time frame for project delivery is . Scope Creep is the positive way of referring to the natural process by which clients discover what they really want (Suresh, 2009). Costs must be measureable so that they can be controlled as best as possible. Projects that come in way over budget are not considered to have been successful. It is also important to be able to measure time so that the project can be controlled as to the time that it takes to complete it. Projects are normally given a time frame from the beginning in which to be completed, if this time frame is not met the project is also seen as unsuccessful.
Why is it necessary that everyone is in agreement on a project’s goals?
“Project goals keep the focus on what is most important” (Mathis, 2009). Prior to starting a project, everyone that is involved must be clear on the focus of the project and committed to the same goals. This means that the client, executive management, the project team members, the project manager and all of the project stakeholders must be on the same page. In order to have a successful project there must be a well from the beginning. The only way to have this well developed project plan is to know where you are, where you want to be and how you are going to get there. Without everyone agreeing on what the focus of the project is there is no way to develop the road map that is necessary to have a successful project. Everyone that is involved with the project, especially the project team as a whole should be committed to the project. The project team truly has the greatest impact on the project’s success; therefore, team members should have the greatest desire to see that the project is totally successful and if everyone is not in agreement on the project goals then this desire will be absent.
What could cause some project stakeholders to disagree with a project’s goals?
All project stakeholders have their own wants and desires that they think should come out of a project. Generally there are stakeholders from several different departments and many levels of management. Everyone of these people see’s their needs as being the most important. Disagreement among stakeholders is a natural occurrence on every project. It is the project managers responsibly to bring everyone together in order to come to a consensus about what are the most important needs that need to be dealt with now and which ones can wait until future projects. Having consensus will help to ensure a successful project.
References
Hutchings, Rod. (n.d.). What are the Triple Constraints in Project Management. Retrieved June
25, 2009, from Web site: http://www.projectmanagement.net.au/triple_constraints
Mathis, Keith. (2009). Five Goals of Every Project. Retrieved June 25, 2009, from Project Smart
Web site: http://www.projectsmart.co..html
Suresh, Babu. (2009). Scope Creep Management. Retrieved June 25, 2009, from Project Perfect
Web site: http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_scope_creep_mgmt.php
