Assignment task: Please provide (3) Critiques of the discussion below. If references are used please provide them.
I have heard that the role of a project manager is like being a juggler in a circus act where you are required to wear many professional hats and juggle the needs of the business, stakeholders, and customers all at once - this plus all the other moving parts of the process for the duration of the life cycle of the project. During this time, the project manager may encounter a number of limitations referred to as constraints that directly affect some aspect of the end product. At one point, businesses used only three constraints: time, costs, and quality, these were considered traditional constraints to project management but as projects evolved and became more complex, other constraints like risks and resources were added. In the case of managing a consulting engagement, the quality of the engagement may just be the most important constraint of them all, because the quality requirements set the tone for "the minimum acceptable standard of quality of the delivered scope." (Warner).
As a project manager, one must consider that managing constraints are a part of the job, this includes the costs and budgeting of the project, ensuring the quality of the product meets expectations, and the time required to do the job. The traditional three are defined as:
Cost - According to Proton Consulting Group, "cost constraint refers to the budget allocated to the project." It is any fee-based resources, including budget for company labor, materials, and outside resources required to complete the project. Cost means anything of financial value required to complete the project including salaries, equipment, facility where work will be done, repairs to equipment, and materials. Anything that requires you to "pull from the company's financial resources" (Asana, 2021).
Quality (meeting requirements) - "is the measure of how well your project deliverables meet initial expectations. Every project constraint affects project quality because project quality is the ultimate result of your project." (Asana, 2021). A lack of communication, poor design, or too many changes to the project can affect the quality of the project. Quality is often managed as its own entity because the quality of the project often leads to low customer satisfaction.
Time - "refers to the expected completion and delivery date of a project." Time constraint covers milestones that are expected to be met during the projects lifecycle and include specific dates and deliverables. "Company and/or client resources are generally allocated to accept deliverables on the planned project delivery date and ready to leverage the expected outcomes" (Proton Consulting, 2021). Time constraint is one of the most important things to consider. How long a project will take to complete is a vital measurement of a project's success, so it is important to be as accurate as possible as to when deliverables will be met.
Sadly, any one or all six of these constraints can happen at any time during the project life cycle and the project manager must have the skills to resolve them to meet required deliverables.