One of the more frustrating experiences I used to suffer as a new manager was when people in authority used to make these ridiculous demands that could not be met. Mathematically speaking, they wanted to put ten pounds of discarded cellular by-product into a container capable of handling exactly half that amount. Ok, I will write slower – ten pounds of manure in a five pound bag.
Anyway, we all know this simply can’t work. Unfortunately, it seemed that they really didn’t care about the math. They probably learned that from their bosses, who learned that from their bosses, etc. And since that is what their bosses expected of them, and that acron didn’t fall from the oak, that is what they expected of you!! So, when I first heard the concept of “you can have it good, fast or cheap – pick two” I grabbed onto it and wouldn’t let go.
Here is how it works. Below you will see a triangle that says good, fast and cheap. I say you can have two.
If you tell me you want it good and fast, it is not going to come cheap. Why? Because most likely I am going to have to add additional people to whatever we are making, and that costs money, so it isn’t coming cheap.
If you tell me you want it good and cheap, well that means it won’t be fast. I am going to have use fewer resources to make the product, and that takes more time. More time means it isn’t coming fast.
And lastly, if you want it fast and cheap, then it isn’t going to be good because we all know that speed kills. If you work too fast you will make mistakes and those mistakes make the product something less than good. More speed means more mistakes, which means lower quality.
The bottom line is that you need to allow the natural order of things to find their way. You cannot simply will something into existence without some associated affect on cost or quality. If the project is properly planned out, there is no need to invoke the lesson of the triangle.
So the next time that overbearing know-it-all stands over you and demands that your project be “good, fast and cheap”, you can smile politely and whip out your latest copy of the triangle and explain why that is a mathematical impossibility.
Let me know what you think!!
Leave me a comment or send an email to mike@directyourcareer.com
As a then-newly graduated accounting degree, I couldn’t agree more. I was hired in to a clerk job, quite some time ago, where I was told that the person who I replaced spent the last six months messing up his depreciation and expense records of 100 rental properties extensively. My job was to clear the records completely, though he stated that he “didn’t care about accuracy”. (Statements like that are scary to an accountant!) When I started working on it, the boss wanted to know how long it would take; when it wasn’t done within the week, I was let go. Not too sorry to lose that job, but…
Hi Joe – thanks for the comment!
Mike