The IT Scope/Time/Cost Triangle is Rubbish

Since the 1950s, IT project management has been shaped by the idea that there are three fundamentally immutable constraints a project manager must balance to deliver a quality result: scope, cost and time.

This concept, known as the Project Management Triangle, suggests that to maintain quality, you can only adjust these three levers. For example, if you want to shorten the delivery timescale, you must either increase cost or reduce scope—otherwise, quality will suffer.

Here's a summary from Perplexity: The Project Management Triangle.

I was trained at university and then mentored at Ernst & Young for ten years. You'd imagine I fully embraced this framework. But early on, I noticed something troubling: there are far easier and more impactful ways to improve the quality of a solution. Yet, our industry still clings to this outdated model.

A More Realistic View

Let's take two teams with the same constraints—same budget, scope, time and quality expectations.

Is it feasible that one team could outperform the other?

I asked my daughter (who isn't in the industry), and her response was simple:

"Duh, what about the team?"

Exactly.

For the same budget, I could have a highly skilled team or an average team. The difference between these two is a massive positive bump in scope, time, cost and quality.

Steve Jobs famously pointed out that a great software engineer can outperform others by a factor of 10—this is where the term "10x engineer" originates.

Beyond the Triangle

The Project Management Triangle ignores several crucial factors:

1. Team Quality
   A highly skilled, experienced team will achieve significantly better outcomes than an average one for the same cost.
   

2. Process Efficiency
   The choice of process can have a huge impact. A lean, outcome-focused approach will outperform a rigid one.
   

   • Teams stuck in Scrum or Waterfall often focus more on the process than the value they should be delivering.

   • Ironically, the Agile Manifesto itself prioritises people over process—yet many teams forget this.

3. Clarity of Vision
   A team that truly understands the goal will naturally make better micro-decisions every day, optimising for success.
   

4. Motivation
   Given two equally resourced teams, the motivated one will deliver more, faster and at higher quality.
   

The Real Drivers of Project Success

So while scope, cost and time matter, they aren't the only levers—or even the most important ones.

If you want a superior outcome, focus on:

✅ Hiring the right people
✅ Streamlining the process
✅ Ensuring absolute clarity of vision
✅ Keeping the team motivated

A high-performing team with a clear purpose will always outperform an average team stuck inside the Project Management Triangle.

Andrew Walker
Technology consulting for charities
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-walker-the-impatient-futurist/

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