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When you work on any project there is a saying that you have to decide between Price, Quality, and Time – but you have to choose two. Nobody gets all three, and I completely agree.
When scoping out a project you have to be ready to sacrifice one of the three points in the project triangle.
I really appreciate this lesson as when I talk to folks who are about to embark on a project, they think they can get all three. I think I learned this lesson the first time I had someone else working on a project for me. I ended up losing out on quality, which meant I did not pay a lot and the project happened fast. On the other side of it, the final product was less than great. It was a valuable lesson that you have to choose wisely.
There are many ways to start a project, but understanding that using an outside provider for programming, graphic design, marketing, consulting, or anything else coming from an outside source you need to choose between Price, Quality, and Time.
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June 16th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Really enjoyed reading this Eric. From my experience this is surprisingly accurate when describing a product marketing cycle. You can never get all three…but I usually choose time and quality over price. I think that I may need to be a bit more flexible here in the future to be more successful.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:05 am
There is always a reason to choose two of the three. Recently I let go of time and needed price and quality – but the next project may be different.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I know we had this discussion offline, but in my experience: You can't even get “good” + “fast”. Correction: You might be able to get “good” + “fast” but you'll never get “exceptional” + “fast”. That's why it takes so long to produce amazing work.
The more time you spend with amazing designers, the more you'll understand that it's not just about making something look “good,” it's much more about making an amazing underlying product experience and then building that to look “exceptional.” And time is the only way you can get an exceptional product experience that's designed amazingly well.
Hope that makes sense.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I totally understand that. It is also another reason why the blend of designer + developer is so important and you cannot just hand over a design and say “build this”. That is for another article – but I agree with you completely.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
My favorite food truck in the Financial District (http://www.yelp.com/biz/dominics-italian-sausag...) has a sign that reads: Good, Cheap, Fast — pick two.
In the food truck's case, 'fast' is the one that doesn't apply. Except I didn't get to pick.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I definitely have to check that out.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Great post. As someone who's tried to get all 3 multiple times – I completely agree with everything you say here
June 25th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Thanks – I hope we can save others the same conditions.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Nivi argues you can have all three by adjusting the scope of a project: http://is.gd/1ewuL
Too bad regulatory and market requirements do not permit scope reduction on my project. Sigh. Choosing two…
July 8th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
A simple yet powerful axiom. As a former marketer, we were always trying to balance those three aspects. So really, there's two sides to this coin, the customers perspective and the providers perspective. The client is always pushing for all 3 and as a marketing service provider, it was out job to make sure we pushed back to assure deliverable and realistic results.
July 16th, 2009 at 5:58 am
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March 19th, 2010 at 7:02 am
just hope it can be both…
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:40 pm
balancing things comes to be quite difficult, it should be give extra amount of dedication…