Problems in project management when requirements regarding the likely completion date of the project are incompatible

Abstract


The paper examines the problem of the difference between the project requirements in terms of completion dates. The purpose of the study is to improve the efficiency of decision-making in project management regarding the likely completion dates of the project. Based on mathematical models, without special assumptions about the nature of the project, it is shown that the tasks of minimizing the average duration of the project, its most likely duration, the median completion period, as well as such a period that guarantees the completion of the project with a given probability, are not reducible to each other and require various management decisions. It is concluded that mathematical models popular in project management, which reduce uncertainty in deadlines to a single parameter, inadequately reflect this difference in requirements and can be improved so that their practical consequences are more transparent to project managers, and also that when making decisions within the framework of managing real projects, the customer's requirements should be specified and unambiguously determine which of the deadlines is the key for him. As a result of the research, it is proved that within the framework of any fairly complex project, there are always such management decisions that will be justified in terms of minimizing the average time, but will lead to an increase in the median or most likely completion time.

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About the authors

A. N Puntikov

North-Western Institute of Management RANEPA

A. N Shikov

North-Western Institute of Management RANEPA

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