The Triangle of Tactics

Sometimes referred to as the Triangle of Horror… where the PM tries his best to maintain his balance while walking on the very thin project rope between this triangle and the Project Constraints Triangle (time, cost & scope).

The triangle sides represent:

• The Team,
• The Client and
• The Management

Every side of this triangle is obsessed by the sole idea that the other two sides want him dead, i.e. the team thinks that the client and the top management want him dead and vice versa.

Usually a good PM gets lost while trying to maintain this triangle in good shape to keep all parties satisfied and happy while making them think they are his first and only priority to get out what is needed from them for the sake of the project.

From my perspective, this is a much harder balance to keep rather than maintaining and managing the Project Constraints Triangle… It highly depends on people, their culture, maturity level, and on the PM’s ability to understand this and deal with it in a wise manner. Some PMs don’t really know to which side they belong, they think they are the project itself and they strive to make it succeed, thus losing themselves sometimes!

Dealing with each side requires a certain type of mask to help the PM achieve his task and convince his addressee that he is the most important side in the project and that his satisfaction is what the PM is aiming and working for all the time.

Sides’ Attributes

The following table illustrates the attributes of each side of the triangle and the mask to wear/technique to use while dealing with it to achieve the maximum performance:

	Team	Client	Management
Want	Go home at an adequate time	Pay the least	Get money
Think/Believe	The client doesn’t know what they want	The vendor is abusing us… we should revenge	The client is always right
Behavior	Rebel against changes	Pretend being busy and important	Don’t interfere till the last minute to push on the team

How a PM Should Deal with Triangle Sides?

The PM should be aware of how to manipulate each side to maintain the triangle intact till the end of the project and survive with it. The following table illustrates these points:

	Team	Client	Management
Say	I love you… you are one of my best teams	All I care about is to see you happy using the system we’ll deliver to you even if we work in it till we die!	I am very concerned with the name of the organization and its reputation, we can replace the team at any time if they don’t work well
Don’t Say	We will finish the project even if you can’t	Sir, this is a change request	There are some risks
Tactic/Mask	Taming Your team, if they believe in you, will do anything for you. Just know each team member’s key and tame them	Hypnosis Get to know everything from your client, even the details of their personal life to be able to satisfy their needs	Pleasing Make sure not to tell them problems without solutions, just do your work while keeping them away

A Final Advice

Somehow, try to know who you are and make sure you can go back to yourself! And beware, not to mix masks!