Do you wonder how to complete an IT project on time?

Have you ever wonder about the feeling of completing an IT project on time?

Believe it or not, there are a good number of examples where IT projects have been completed on time, on budget and as per agreed specifications.

The most basic form of controlling a project to end it on time is the use of “The trade off triangle”. The trade off triangle is made up of

• Scope
• Resources
• Schedule

Firstly, design and agree on the initial scope, resources (financial, human, equipment) and schedule (completion time). The scope is also known as functionally or requirements i.e what is wanted.

Resources are of many types.. financial (budget), human, physical (equipment, plant, offices, software, etc)

Schedule, is when this phase of the project (or the complete project) is needed to be completed.

From then on, the best way to keep the project on track (schedule) is to be very tough with any changes to the resources or to the scope. If any of the resources are not available on time, THERE will be an impact on the schedule. If the scope changes in any way shape or form, there will be an impact on the schedule. Not that you can’t accept changes to scope or resources… however, be mindful of the impact on the schedule.

Conversely, to complete a project as per the original specifications, ensure the appropriate resources are in place and that the schedule is reasonable… and to complete a project within budget and all other resources allocated, ensure the schedule and scope are not altered without considering the impact on the resources.