Friday, 20 May 2016

Assumptions Versus Constraints in Project Management

Assumptions are those things which we believe to be true , We don't know they are real but we believe they are , things are considered to be true and real .It is very very important for a project manager to document the assumptions specially when it comes to duration , overall cost and should ask questions like how you came up with your schedule , how you are going to identify the resources for the project.

Documenting assumption can help you with 2 major reasons 
First one it provides protection to you as a project manager, What if the sponsor comes back to you and say "Hey PM how did your estimates are completely off, why do you think it is going to take 3 months instead of 2 month" 
Your answer could be "My assumption was my team would be well skilled and willing to work but the team i got was not having skills enough to execute the project"
The second reason is to provide historical record , So in the above case if you are going to document the assumption of estimates completely going off and if in future i have to look at historical records for basis of your project estimates versus mine then i would have a feel of what kind of assumptions were going in.
Plus assumptions can also leads to risk which has to be monitored on a regular basis 

Constraints are basically limitations, limitations placed upon a project.
The most common constraints we call in project management is triple constraints i.e Time, Cost & Scope
We are constraints by the time we have , the budget we have and scope 
Every project is always a deadline based which is called a constraint in project else it wouldnt be a project 

Example : 
Project Name : Build Cabin for Mr / Mrs Shah , Requirements 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms , plan specifications etc 
Assumptions : 
Budget : Funding provided prior to start
Resources : Unlimited access to property 
Materials available for immediate delivery (material is also a resource)
Scope : Plans are complete, Changes will go through Change Control Board 

Constraints :-
Budget INR 3 crore 
Schedule : 6 Months 
Quality : Pass All Municipality Inspections 

You may also like 

No comments:

Post a Comment