What are the disadvantages of inflating a project based on P

What are the disadvantages of inflating a project based on PERT estimating or incorporating risk?

Solution

There are many advantages of a PERT inflation method for estimating and incorporatingrisk components into a project management process. As the central theme or tenant for all projectmanagement initiatives is focused on the triple constraint (time, budget and scope), leveraging aninflation tact or strategy for any of the three constraints separately or in conjunction with oneanother is an excellent way to methodically and functionally establish contingency reserves andrisk buffers to help remediate and offset unforeseen or unpredictable project overruns.

Your PERT chart breaks a project into independent activities. It requires accurate and consistent data to establish resources, relationships and deadlines. You can\'t always break down activities this cleanly, especially if you\'re working on complex or new projects, and you may have problems sourcing precise data.

For example, it is hard for project teams to give accurate time estimates for activities that are new to them, and they may skew timelines by giving subjective rather than objective deadlines. Even if you\'re confident that you control internal data, external factors may cause problems. If a supplier does not deliver a key part of the project on time, you may need to modify your chart.

Disadvantage: Critical Path Emphasis

While PERT encourages you to focus on the critical path, you may run into problems if you ignore activities on other paths. These might grow in importance over time, especially if there are delays or problems that then affect the critical path.

For example, if an activity on a shorter path overruns, you may have to put your critical path on hold until you get back on track. This extends your timeline. If progress on the shorter path does not speed up and its deadline extends far enough, it may become your new critical path and you may need to modify your project analysis.