Thursday, December 8, 2022

Influence and discriminating factors



When it's OPM -- other people's money -- the client gets to make the priority judgments.
I call them "influencers and discriminators" In this table, you'll find commentary that defines or explains the five influencers.


Influencer
Commentary
Resources
Money, staff, infrastructure, intellectual property or access
Real, virtual, remote, dedicated or shared
Time
Calendar, duration, milestones, value-add points
Scope
Client deliverables; business deliverables; project debris
Agile CUD: create, update, delete agility
Quality
Fitness to use; fitness to standards; fitness to “best value”
Risk
Risk to the client; risk to the business.
Impact and likelihood. Black swan effects
Anti-fragile

A typical priority set might be as shown below. Best use of resources and attention to quality rank highest in this example. But there are other situations. Read on to the next charts


So, here's how this might look if schedule were all important. Sometimes, if you miss a milestone, you've missed the entire reason-for-being of the project. In that case, schedule has to stand out above all others.
Or, maybe it's cost management. If you're in the public sector spending the taxpayers' money, then it is often the case that resource management rises to the top, as in the chart below.


From a contracting perspective, you open the envelope and pick the "least cost that's technically acceptable". Sometimes that's a bit harsh because long-standing relationships might get tossed, but when cost is the standout, and all proposals are otherwise acceptable, then pick the lowest cost.



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