Karim Vaes

Say what?
One of the basic principles I’ve learned during a college about Project Management is the concept of the “Devil’s Triangle”. Although it’s a very simple concept in nature, it’s powerful when (failed to be) understood.

As you might have expected, there are three sides to our triangle:

• Time
• Cost
• Quality

Three is a charm
The basic rule is that you choose one primary and one secondary focus of your triangle. The third one is something you just have to accept.

Examples
If we choose to go for a low budget (cost) and fast paced project (time), then we will have to cut in features (quality).
If we choose to increase or pace (time), we will have to sacrifice either quality or money (cost).

Risk
In addition to these three sides, we’ll have an extra factor in the middle called “Risk”. This is something that will influence each side. When a certain risk occurs, it will have an impact on at least one of our sides.

Examples
If one of our senior developers would turn sick (risk), we would need to replace him/her. This would cause us to rethink our plans in terms of:

• Replace him/her by a senior consultant : cost increase, quality (should) remain, time line (should) remain
• Replace him/her by a junior team member : cost decrease, quality might remain, time line will probably be longer
• …

As you can see, you’ll need to decide (upfront) with your stakeholders which areas they value as important. Where you have to clarify that it’s not possible to win on all area’s, but that you just have to accept one side of the triangle.