Good. Fast. Cheap... Pick Two.

So most everyone has heard of this "project triangle" from the engineering world… right? Well… if not, it’s pretty self explanatory. But I will give you a quick run through just to make sure we are on the same page.

Here we go…

1. You contract X-Company for a project - you want it to be GOOD but you need it FAST – This means they have to put all of their other projects on hold and spend every waking hour on yours – Ok, they will, but it will not be CHEAP.

2. Same Project - This time you don’t care if they are SLOW but you want it to be CHEAP - so now they can work on it when they have available time, this allows them time to focus on it, so it will be GOOD.

3. Yet again; Same Project – This time you need it FAST and CHEAP – They have other customers that are paying a premium for their time so they can’t afford to put them on the back burner to focus on your project, so they will do yours as fast as possible without much regard for GOOD in order to get back to their higher paying jobs.

I’m not saying that you should only take care of your premium paying customers. I’m merely pointing out that...

In order to meet the needs of all your customers (and stay in business), your organization will need to communicate very clearly that they (the customer) must be willing to give up ONE of the following three in return for their demands… Good. Fast or Cheap.