During the implementation of the project, the speed of task duration is directly related to direct resource costs; that is, the more time is needed, the more resources are spent. This correlation is evident and intuitive, although there are more variables under the surface in project management. The model managers use to balance time, and resources are called the project management golden triangle (Klastorin & Mitchell, 2020). It includes three interdependent variables – scope, cost, and time (Klastorin & Mitchell, 2020). Scope establishes the outcomes of a project, including its complexity and quality level. Cost includes all monetary, human and other resources needed to complete tasks. Time describes the timing of the project and depends on both the desired level of quality and the required amount of resources. Thus, task duration depends both on project scope and direct resource costs.
To achieve a reduction in duration of any task, it is necessary to either reduce the quality and complexity of the project or increase the cost and amount of resources expended on any order. The approach may depend on the organization of the company’s business processes and the type of market in which it operates. For example, for businesses that price a product according to time spent, every extra hour will increase the final product’s cost. Therefore, this will reduce the company’s revenue unless managers find a way to minimize time costs (Klastorin & Mitchell, 2020). If the material resources to complete the tasks are small or fixed, and the client pays by the hour, then managers may care less about the time spent (Klastorin & Mitchell, 2020). In this case, task duration will not reduce the company’s income so much, although it will increase the cost of the project for the client.
The approach of manipulating task duration and resource costs has limits for objective reasons. Since the elapsed time can never be equal to zero, despite the amount of invested resources. Moreover, there is a balance in which the added resources no longer shorten the project duration and therefore are wasted (Klastorin & Mitchell, 2020). For instance, in an IT project, the client asks to add a feature to the application as soon as possible. A single junior-level developer can work on a task, so the task will take a lot of time to solve. The manager can add more resources to the project by adding two programmers or workers with a higher level of competencies. However, if the task is trivial enough, one or two senior programmers will not complete it significantly faster than mild tree operators. At the same time, the cost of the project will increase due to the use of higher-paid workers.
Task duration and direct resource cost are directly dependent on each other and in the same direct dependence on the project scope. This means that, as costs increase, the time to complete tasks will decrease. In this case, this correlation is not linear but inversely hyperbolic since an excessive injection of additional resources from a certain stage ceases to have a positive effect on the task duration (Klastorin & Mitchell, 2020). The manager must balance the complexity of the task against the minimum time spent on it in order to understand what is the optimal use of resources. Project duration is adjusted within a window of opportunity, where managers can slow down the process to save resources or speed it up by using additional ones.
Reference
Klastorin, T. & Mitchell, G. (2020). Project Management A Risk Management Approach. Sage Publication.