We all sometimes wish we could have something done now, for little to no cost, and at the best possible quality.
The holy grail of good, fast and cheap is almost impossible to find. In the real world trade-offs usually have to be made.
In the famous words of Darryl Kerrigan: "Tell him he's dreaming!".
- Want something good and fast? It's probably going to cost you a lot.
- Want something fast and cheap? It's probably not going to be very good.
- Want something cheap and good? You're probably not going to get it done quickly.
It is worth remembering that we can't always have everything, sometimes we need to make a compromise. Where are you willing to compromise on your current project?
- Can you afford to delay the project to meet expectations and bring it in on budget?
- Can you sacrifice quality in order to deliver on time and on budget?
- Can you afford to spend more to get it done on time and to expectations?
So next time you're facing a trade-off or compromise, remember the triad of Good, Fast, Cheap and their counterparts Bad, Slow, Costly.