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194 USING AND MANAGING CONTINGENCY

some resource contingency allowance is in order. However, if
the resource usage histogram shows a mix of peaks and val-
leys, especially well out into the future, it may be okay to wait
until you are closer to the period in question before making
firm contingency plans.

Workscope Contingency

We note at the start of this chapter on contingency that project management in-
volves the balancing of schedule, resource, cost, and workscope objectives. If this
is so, it means that the project workscope may be considered to be negotiable.
Usually, at the outset of a project, we assume that the workscope is set in con-
crete. In order to maintain the contract workscope, we may adjust (usually over-
run) schedules, resource effort, and costs. We may, in order to maintain the other
objectives, even compromise quality or reliability.

However, in reality, the workscope may not be totally fixed. In fact, studies
have shown that most development type projects are delivered with less than the
contracted scope. If time or cost ceilings are fairly rigid, then it may have to be
the workscope that gives way.

Tip A Corollary to Parkinson’s Law C. Northcote Parkinson
noted that “work expands so as to fill the time available for
that work.” In some projects, we can state that in reverse. That
is, the workscope is reduced by the limits in time and money
available to do that work. In some cases, we reduce the con-
tent or functionality of what is delivered. We may even elimi-
nate an item in its entirety.

Perhaps, as part of a full-featured project plan, it is prudent to identify, up
front, those parts of the workscope that could be modified, reduced, eliminated,
or delayed until a later phase. This would be part of the deliverables risk evalua-
tion. Then, as the project moves along, the project team would periodically evalu-
ate the workscope, along with the schedule and costs. This is part of that
balancing of schedule, resources, costs, workscope, and quality—an essential ele-
ment of the project management process.

Again, this is not contingency management as we described for schedules and
cost. But it does influence us to identify the more flexible parts of the contract