The Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review

 

January 13, 2014 Managing a Project Means Making Trade-Offs A project’s scope, schedule, and budget all affect what you can achieve. So if you tweak one of these factors, you'll have to change something else. For example, if your time frame for developing a new database is cut, you'll have to hire more people (up the budget) or deliver a system with fewer features (reduce the scope). You'll face many similar trade-offs when managing a project. The point is: don’t panic. If you know from the start which of these three is most important to stakeholders, you'll be able to make the right trade-offs. A less ambitious or even lower-quality product isn’t necessarily a bad thing — as long as the functionality meets the needs of the end users and fits the budget and schedule. Just keep your stakeholders in the loop. You’ll spot trade-offs long before they do, so tell them when you want to make changes and negotiate to reach a solution. Adapted from “Managing Projects (20-Minute Manager).”

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