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High Quality Isn't Always the Goal
by Derek LeBlond
Version 5 - Create Date: 2022-03-06, Last Update: 2022-08-26
Do you use bleach while in designer clothes? Why not? Don't you want to work in the most comfortable, form-fitting outfits? Isn't it more luxurious to work in clothes where the stiches and fits had a magical attention to detail?
What about when you are hungry? Do you always stop and have a 7-course fine dining meal? Isn't always better when you sit back, relax, and receive top service and beautiful food?
High quality is often a compromise we make at home. We grab those low-quality jeans and that old t-shirt with the holes in it to use the bleach. We might grab some fast food to for a quick bite.
At work? Some of us go for high quality at all costs, with none of the perspective we carry at home. We grind ourselves under the hopes that a certain level of attention to detail will drive up quality, and quality is of upmost importance. Maybe because what we do at work seems more abstract than home? Maybe because the stakes feel higher in the workplace, and quality is an adjudicator? I can't answer that.
What I can do is provide a mechanism to make those choices less abstract, even in the most complex of projects, products, programs, and processes. My hope is this mechanism prevents you from the path of madness that high quality is both necessary and good.
Quality in projects, products, programs, and processes is bound by 3 things: scope, time, and cost. Time, scope and cost create the boundaries within which quality lies. Reduce the distance between these points, and you reduce quality.
I want to skip its history, mechanisms, or other nitty details. A Wikipedia article dives deep into the topic, as well as variations of the model.
Instead, I want to share how it can help manage your deliverables.
My preference is to start with the sketch of an ideal project, product, program, or process. Then I compare that to what I have.
The difference between those 2 states is where my real work is. This comparison allows me to identify courses of action: negotiate for more or redefine the goal.
Don't have a reservation for your 7-course meal (scope)? Get one or find another restaurant.
Can't afford a designer wardrobe (cost)? Change those clothes or take the risk you bleach them.
In-laws show up in an hour (time)? Clean the visible areas or still clean when they show up.
In the rare instance your vision is within the boundaries of the pyramid, you can expand your vision and raise the quality of your deliverable. The same is true if you negotiate more scope, time, or cost than you need. Call your concierge to get the reservation for you (I mean, you do have designer clothes in this metaphor). Hire help if your cost allows it. Maybe if you double the help, you can reduce the time it takes.
Too long didn't read? My favorite way to sum this all up is you can have it fast, cheap, or good, pick 2.
Tags
Minutes to Read
2:32
Flesch Reading Ease
44
Difficult to read.