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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Leading and managing projects

Marlow Council is planning a new public leisure centre. The sponsor insists on a fixed opening date and a fixed budget, but the stakeholders also want every feature on a long wish list. According to the project management 'triangle' of constraints, what is the key implication for planning?

With time and cost fixed, scope or quality must flex, because the constraints of scope, time and cost are interdependent. The sponsor and stakeholders need to prioritise features, for example using must-have versus nice-to-have, rather than expecting every constraint to be met in full.

  1. AAll three constraints can be fixed if the project manager works harder
  2. BBecause scope, time and cost are interdependent, fixing time and cost means scope or quality must flexCorrect
  3. CQuality is independent of the other constraints and can be fixed separately
  4. DOnly cost should be fixed, as time and scope adjust automatically

Explanation

Scope, time and cost (with quality at the centre) are interdependent: a change in one affects the others. If date and budget are fixed, the scope or quality must be prioritised and traded off. Fixing all of them is unrealistic.

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