O que é o triângulo de gestão de projetos?

A gestão de projetos do triângulo de ferro tem restrições que são consideradas de "ferro" porque não é possível alterar restrições sem afetar outras. A gestão de projetos do triângulo de ferro original, proposto pelo Dr. Martin Barnes em 1969, segue a abordagem de cascata para o desenvolvimento de produto: o escopo é fixo e os recursos e o tempo são variáveis. Para a equipe de software, isso significa que as equipes começariam o projeto definindo os requisitos do produto para determinar o escopo do projeto (lista de itens de trabalho). Os recursos e o cronograma são variáveis e estimados dependendo do escopo fixo.

O objetivo da gestão de projetos do triângulo de ferro é oferecer às equipes de produto as informações necessárias para fazer concessões que vão ajudar a empresa. Por exemplo, se as equipes se depararem com escopo fixo, elas podem estar na metade do projeto e perceber que não vão conseguir cumprir a data de lançamento. As únicas variáveis que elas podem mudar são: 1) Tempo: elas podem aceitar datas de lançamento posteriores ou 2) Recursos: elas podem adicionar mais pessoas ao projeto, o que vai aumentar os custos. Conforme o desenvolvimento de software evoluiu no século XXI, a necessidade de mais colaboração e a capacidade de responder com rapidez ao feedback do cliente se tornaram cruciais, e foi aí que surgiu a metodologia Agile surgiu.

If your team practices waterfall project management or are new to agile development, the important thing to remember is the difference between what is fixed and what is estimated. Unlike waterfall development, agile projects have a fixed schedule and resources while the scope varies. While the scope of a project might change in agile development, teams commit to fixed iterations of work: sprints if you're using a scrum framework and WIP limits if you're using a kanban framework. It's also a best practice to keep teams fixed throughout the development process. By keeping teams consistent on a product or project, they become more efficient through developed trust and continuity.

The idea of scope is the same in agile development: what software to build and deliver. However, agile focuses on high-level requirements rather than trying to come with deep and detailed requirements upfront. The scope of a project gets regularly managed and groomed (prioritized) by the product manager in a tool like Jira. The product manager decides which work should be accomplished in the next sprint based on agile qualitative and quantitative feedback from various channels (market conditions, customer feedback, competitions, etc..). And because resources and time are fixed, it's easier for development teams to react to market changes and to deliver value to customers faster. This transparency of constraints keeps teams honest about a consistent and fast release cadence, which is a key tenant of agile development; and by looking at projects through the lens of the project management triangle teams are able to adapt without abandoning a plan.

> > Set up your first agile project with this interactive tutorial

As projects become bigger, more teams are needed and the time box gets longer. Thus, the notion of fixing resources and time, while scope varies, is not a valid approach for all agile projects. Long-term agile planning requires a more flexible project management triangle that allows teams to plan ahead and ensures that they're meeting the business objectives. Think for instance about the lean startup movement, and the notion of a minimum viable product (MVP). An MVP by definition is a small set of features (scope) that delivers customer value. To get to that MVP, teams might need to stick to a fixed scope – the number of features – with time being their only variable (e.g. you can't release without certain features, so the release date gets pushed). Only after launching the MVP, teams switch to a variable scope.

Regardless of the differences between waterfall and agile development, when using the project triangle, there’s no right or wrong way. It's there to help you make the best decisions and trade-offs to reach your business goals. A tool like Timelines visualizes the building blocks of a plan – scope, people, and time – to help teams plan in real-time. You can easily play with scope, teams, and time to plan your next product release, using the team's existing data in Jira.