The Project Triangle hides an important leadership lesson.
Put simply, the Triangle says you have 3 objectives when completing a task. You can have it good, fast or cheap.
Pick any two. You can’t have all 3.
Good and fast = not cheap
Good and cheap = not fast
Fast and cheap = not good
Perfection isn’t a target it’s a choice.
You can’t be perfect at everything, but you must decide what you want to be good at.
The choice of what you want to be good at is one of the most important decisions a leader can make, because what you want to be good at also forces you to choose what you’re not good at.
Your triangle might have some different things from Quality, Speed and Cost, but whatever they are, if you try to do all three you’ll likely fail.
Of course there are some in the Leadership Industry who pretend that you can have all three just by wishing it hard enough.
You can have the highest quality, high speed and the lowest cost they say.
You just need superhuman powers.
And so does your team.
Asking people to get great quality and do it for a low cost is being demanding. Asking for all that at high speed is being a pain in the butt.
Just because some exceptional individuals or teams occasionally achieve all 3 doesn’t make it a reasonable goal for normal teams.
Some leaders are more sneaky.
Rather than making a decision, they simply switch priorities regularly and hope nobody notices.
Playing the trick of cutting costs one week, adding scope the next, then pushing for faster delivery the next.
It can be soul destroying for a team.
One of your most important jobs as a leader is to decide priorities and communicate them clearly and consistently.
Making clear what needs to be done well, fast or cheap is your job as a leader. So is explaining why.
Of course the choice can change according to circumstances, but if you’re not clear in your own mind, your team has no chance.
If there’s a good reason that you want perfection, and you can explain it, you’re doing your job as a leader to push results.
If it’s just to be perfect, you’re likely leading to uncontrolled failure in at least one, maybe all.
Next time you’re deciding what you want, try deciding what you don’t want.
“..perfection isn’t a target, it’s a choice…”
Do you have clear targets or objectives?
Are they consistent over time?
Are they prioritized? Or do you want everything ?
Would you drop being Good, Fast or Cheap ?
Does your team know the priorities so that they can make consistent decisions?
Have you decided what you don’t need to be good at, to still be good?
Do you expect results or perfection?
Are you perfect?
.
.
“I might be wrong, but at least I’ve thought about it…”