{"id":59,"date":"2011-02-01T16:50:42","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T16:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.agilityfeat.com\/?p=59"},"modified":"2011-02-01T16:50:42","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T16:50:42","slug":"the-iron-triangle-revised-to-reflect-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agilityfeatpanama.com\/en\/blog\/2011\/02\/the-iron-triangle-revised-to-reflect-people\/","title":{"rendered":"The Iron Triangle revised to reflect people"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had coffee with a fellow software consultant friend recently where we traded war stories about recent IT projects.\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Jay told a tale familiar to many of us (Jay is not his real name, but the story is all too real). \u00a0He and his team had just recently finished a project where they had to put in very long days for months on end. \u00a0One day his son said \u201cDaddy what are you doing here?\u201d \u00a0Jay responded that he lives there, to which his son replied quickly \u201cNo you don\u2019t, you live at your office!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that the project is over, I asked if the project was ultimately successful, and Jay at first said that it was. \u00a0The project met the timeline required by the client, delivered the required features, and was within budget.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Jay and I to agree that although the project did ultimately meet the budget, time and scope constraints, it\u2019s not a very rewarding success when you have to consistently work nights and weekends to make it successful.<\/p>\n

You may have heard of the \u201cIron Triangle\u201d before. \u00a0It\u2019s the idea that the triple constraints of budget, time, and scope are closely related to each other, like the sides of a triangle. \u00a0If you put a further constraint on one side of the triangle, the other two sides must shift to accommodate that extra constraint.<\/p>\n

For example, imagine that you give the customer a quote, and they reply: \u201cI want it done in less time.\u201d \u00a0The Iron Triangle says that to cut the time required, you are going to have to either decrease the scope (ie, deliver fewer features), or increase the budget (so you can add more people to the project).<\/p>\n

The Iron Triangle is a reality of all projects, and fits perfectly fine within Agile methodologies.<\/p>\n

The problem comes when the customer does not want to be flexible, and insists on their tight constraints on all three sides of the triangle at once.\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Jay and I agreed we really should think of the Iron Triangle as an Iron Tetrahedron. \u00a0Adding a fourth point, which is related to all the sides of the triangle, will turn the triangle into a tetrahedron. \u00a0Iron Tetrahedron doesn\u2019t quite roll off the tongue like Iron Pyramid would, but a pyramid has a square base as opposed to a triangular base, and so it\u2019s probably better to be semantically correct.<\/p>\n

This top point of the tetrahedron is Employee Morale. \u00a0If the customer refuses to be flexible on budget, time, or scope, then beware if you still take the project. \u00a0Your only recourse left to meet the customer\u2019s demands is to reduce employee morale.<\/p>\n

Yes, working consistent overtime for no extra pay may allow you to meet the customer\u2019s demands, but what kind of life is that? \u00a0It still doesn\u2019t guarantee that you will get the project done on time, and your quality level is likely to drop.<\/p>\n

Keeping the Iron Triangle fixed and using employee morale as your only remaining leverage will put you on the fast track to project failure and losing your best employees.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in those situations before, and you probably have too. \u00a0Those were my least favorite projects, and I\u2019m determined to avoid them in the future.<\/p>\n

How do you avoid destroying employee morale in order to keep the customer happy? \u00a0Here are some tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n