Mental Models - Fast, Cheap, Good 🔺

Issue #69

Life is full of trade offs. Rapidly process these trade offs with this simple model.

What is Fast Cheap Good?

There’s not much criteria that can’t be fit into three categories: Quality, speed and price.

The problem is, that you can’t have it all. Quality, speed, and low price form an elusive triangle—pick two, but the third slips away. Want top-notch quality fast? It'll cost you. Looking for a bargain without compromising quality? Brace yourself for a wait. It’s a trade off.

I like to remember it even more simply as: fast, cheap, good.

It’s a very useful model for evaluating multiple options because they tend to be universally understandable and applicable.

How fast?

Speed — How fast can we get this solution in place?

Consider the time element of the option.

How cheap?

Price — How much is it going to cost to get this solution in place?

Consider how expensive this option is. Keep in mind that costs might not be entirely monetary.

How good?

Quality — What’s the quality level of this solution?

Consider how good the fit of this option is to the problem or decision.

Why is this interesting?

I’ve applied this simple framework to many different types of decisions. At work it’s been useful to illuminate the trade-offs for vendor selection, software tools or architectural options, and even hiring decisions.

But no one said it better than Neil Gaiman. So I’ll leave you with his neat advice on how to stay employed, which makes me smile:

You stay employed when your work is good, because they are easy to get along with and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three!

Two out of three is fine.

People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time.

People will forgive the lateness of your work if it is good and they like you.

And you don’t have to be as good as everyone else if you’re on time and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you.

Want to go deeper?

🔖 I wrote a longer guide here: A Guide to Smarter Decision-Making For Startup Leaders

🎥 Watch the whole speech by Neil Gaiman, I’m not a big commencement speech inspo person but I do LOVE this:

🔖 Versions of this are sometimes called the Unattainable Triangle, the Project Management Triangle, or the Triple Constraint

😂 OK I have to admit it did remind me of the Crazy Hot Matrix, which I want to be offended by but it does makes me laugh.

Revisit related mental models

🧠 Build your latticework

• Divergent vs. Convergent Thinking start broad and finish narrow

• Satisficing a life changing way of operating

• Parkinson’s Law the work expands to fill the time