A lively discussion is under way at Sunrise Software, where you are a project manager. The main question is whether the person-days concept has limitations. In other words, if a task will require 100 person-days, does it matter whether two people in 50 days, five people in 20 days, 10 people in 10 days, or some other combination that adds up to 100 performs the work? Programmers Paula and Ethan seem to think it does not matter. On the other hand, Hector, a systems analyst, says it is ridiculous to think that any combination would work. To support his point, he offers this extreme example: Could 100 people accomplish a task estimated at 100 person-days in one day?
Is Hector correct? If so, what are the limits in the "people versus days" equation? Taking the concept a step further, is there an optimum number of people to be assigned to a task? If so, how would that number be determined? You need to offer some guidance at the next project team meeting. What will you say?