Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
The Hidden Cost
Project team members should diligently record their actual hours spent in completing tasks and deliverables, carefully monitoring any deviations from the estimated values. Not knowing the difference could cost you.
This is the fifth article in the six-part Project Vital Signs series. Search the author's name to read other articles in the series.
Project cost is a difficult vital sign to monitor for several reasons. Most project managers are not skilled at developing accurate cost estimates, and the typical project management software is not good at capturing the actual effort and cost data. Combine this with inconsistent and incomplete time recording discipline, and the cost-to-date data is almost always suspect. However, if your project has been justified by a specific return on investment (ROI), or is under a fixed-price contract, it is extremely important to develop accurate cost estimates and then to diligently capture comprehensive cost-to-date data.
As the project proceeds down its development path, it is imperative that the actual cost-to-date be compared to the estimated cost, and the project manager must carefully monitor any overspending.
If the actual cost-to-date is between 10-to-20 percent higher than the estimated cost-to-date, the project manager needs to raise the yellow flag. This kind of strain on the budget will adversely affect the ROI. Surely, …
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