A study on complexity and uncertainty perception and solution strategies for the time/cost trade-off problem

Abstract

In this article, the Discrete Time/Cost Tradeoff Problem (DTCTP) is revisited in light of a student experiment. Two solution strategies are distilled from the data of 444 participants and are structured by means of five building blocks: focus, activity criticality, ranking, intensity, and action. The impact of complexity and uncertainty on the cost objective is quantified in a large computational experiment. Specific attention is allocated to the influence of the actual and perceived complexity and uncertainty and the cost repercussions when reality and perception do not coincide.