Scheduling as Part of the Project Management Effort - Construction Project Scheduling and Control - page 269

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Many project management professionals use similar versions of Figure 10.1 to
emphasize the “project objectives.” They are considered the three most important
“objectives” in project management:

1. Scope/quality : that is, to achieve the project scope within the specifications
prescribed in the contract. 2
2. Cost/budget : that is, to complete the project within (on or below) the set
budget.
3. Time/schedule : that is, to complete the project within (on or ahead of) the
schedule.

Every project has one objective and one objective only: to complete the scope
of the work as described in the contract documents. There is no question that being
on budget and on schedule are very important, but in the author's opinion, they are
requirements and constraints. In fact, there are other project requirements and con-
straints, but traditionally we think of cost and schedule as the most important ones.
For example, we can't say the objective of our project is to build a 10-story office
building in Tampa, Florida, within certain specifications, to spend up to $12 million,
and to take up to 18 months in construction. The correct way to make this state-
ment is: “The objective of our project is to build a 10-story office building in Tampa,
Florida, within the contract specifications. The most important project constraints are
not to exceed the $12 million budget and to finish the project within the 18 month
schedule.” Figure 10.2 shows the correction of Figure 10.1. These constraints interact
with the scope (the objective) and with each other.

Time /
Schedule

Cost /
Budget

Scope /
Quality

Figure 10.1 Project objectives

2 Quality is not a measure of goodness. It is rather the conformance to specifications.