1. Project Management Quadruple Constraint
Jeffrey P. Landry, Ph.D.

2. Project
Defined: “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.”*
IS project: A temporary endeavor to develop or enhance an information system
* Project Management Institute, Inc. A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge
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3. Characteristics of Projects
Unique purpose (eg. to build or enhance an IS)
Temporary
Requires resources
Has a primary sponsor (customer)
Involves uncertainty (and unpredictability?)
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4. Four Dimensions of Projects
Scope
Time
Cost
Quality
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5. Quadruple Constraint
Scope
Quality
Time
Cost
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6. Quadruple Constraint
A change in one dimension affects one or more of the others
Increasing scope increases both time and cost
Cutting quality reduced cost and time
Increasing cost decreases time
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7. Quadruple Constraint Deals with core areas of project performance
Each dimension is measurable
Project success and failure in terms of these dimensions
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8. Brooks’ Law Adding workers to a late project makes it later
Recognizes that adding new people to a project creates
The need for training and learning
Additional communication paths
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9. Abdel-Hamid Found that Brooks’ Law had a caveat
Increasing cost (adding people) early enough can reduce time
Adding more people to quality assurance activities has a greater impact on time while not sacrificing quality goals
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