Control

Control is the last element is the implementation cycle of planning-monitoring-controlling. It is an act of reducing the difference between plan and reality. Control is focused on 3 elements of a project-performance, cost and time.

Performance:
•Unexpected technical problems.
•Insufficient resources.
•Quality problems, etc.

Cost
•More resources required.
•Scope of work increases.
•Budgeting was inadequate, etc.

Time
•Technical difficulties took longer time to solve.
•Task sequencing was incorrect.
•Governmental regulations were altered, etc.

These are only a few mechanistic problems that can occur. All problems have a human element too. Humans by action or inaction, set in motion, a chain of events that leads to a failure of the budget, quality problems, etc. Frustration, pleasure, determination, anger and many other emotions rise during the project development. It is over this welter of confusion, emotion and general cussedness that the PM tries to exert control. Such combination of human and mechanistic problems, call for PM intervention and control.

In systems as complex as projects, the task of defining the problem is formidable and thus knowing what to control is not a simple task. Another reason control is difficult because, it is often quite impossible to know how the error occurred.

Regards

MZA