Project Management Status Quo Challenge

Project Management has long recognised that a Project Manager’s primary accountabilities lie in time, cost, and quality. A Project Manager is expected to juggle these three elements throughout project delivery. This balance can be managed effectively in projects where time and cost constraints are less of a priority. However, with tighter time and cost limitations in most enterprise IT projects, quality often becomes the inevitable casualty.

Projects tend to deliver poor-quality products, processes, or services because quality is the least quantifiable of the three components and, thus, often gets deprioritised. However, with limited resources and a looming deadline, the Project Manager’s focus is simply to deliver ‘something’—usually done without sufficient checks and balances in place.

On the flip side, a Requirements Business Analyst typically focuses entirely on quality, often without fully considering time or cost constraints. This leads us to the possibility of the Lead Business Analyst having a more balanced mindset regarding time, cost, and quality. Theoretically, to be in the Lead Business Analyst role, the individual would have developed a strategic approach to planning and prioritising requirements that considers the business needs and the project’s constrained resources.

Given these considerations, I propose shifting final product quality responsibility from the Project Manager to the Lead Business Analyst*. This change would ensure:

• Business needs are met through solutions that satisfy the requirements.
• Value for the business investment made in the project.

While delivering solutions according to the requirements seems to be given in any project delivery, in practice, solutions are offered based on an altered set of requirements to satisfy project constraints.

Project Managers may feel conflicted about relinquishing quality from their core responsibility and accountability, but from experience, this has been proven to be a conflict of interest. In theory, having one role accountable for time, cost, and quality sounds ideal: delivering fast, cheaply, and with the highest quality. However, this is an impossible expectation that undermines business interests. Until this shift in responsibility occurs, the following issues will persist:

• The business’s interests will remain unprotected in projects. 
• The final product will continue to suffer from compromised quality due to time and cost restrictions. 
• Projects will fail from benefits realisation and return on investment perspectives.

With the Project Manager accountable for scope, time, and cost and the Lead Business Analyst responsible for product quality, there will be transparency and more realistic decision-making about what a project can actually deliver within time and cost constraints at acceptable quality.

*reports to the Project Assurance Manager on product quality aspects. The Project Assurance Manager is proposed to be accountable for the overall quality of enterprise IT project delivery and delivered product quality.

Reflection Points

• Do you find yourself focusing on delivering something quickly rather than focusing on the quality of the final product? Consider the projects you worked on—did quality take a backseat due to time or cost limitations?
• Do you believe that holding one role accountable for time, cost, and quality is realistic or beneficial? Reflect on your experience and decide how realistic is it to expect one role to manage all three components without sacrificing quality.
• Are you comfortable with the idea of shifting product quality accountability to a Lead Business Analyst? Reflect on how this shift might impact your role as a Project Manager or Lead Business Analyst.