Pick any two

The old line “good, fast and cheap: pick any two” is tossed around a lot to describe software projects. Last night Scott Trudeau let me in on an inversion of this triangle that he picked up from the 37…

When Worlds Collide

It’s the “Stupid Triangle!” That was the last thing I expected to see tonight as I was doing my normal feed-reading.

Note to those of you outside of GR, sorry.. you had to be there..

Taling about law of physics, it make me think to TRIZ..

project triangle

Simpel en elegant: The Project Triangle….

project triangle

Simpel en elegant: The Project Triangle….

As with any triangle u cannot scale it such that any side is zero. And for small gains on one side the “cost” to the other side improves astronomically….its not linear.

Think of it like a law of physics…Energy, Mass and time. Speed of light is absolute so something’s gotta give. The project triangle is older than computers…We used to use the triangle with Quality time and Cost , and I would tell a client that you can’t have all three…you get to pick two to control and I get whatever remains.

If he cannot accept that— run, do not walk the other way. This is a guy who thinks he’s not subject to the laws of physics, a condition that usually requires pharmacological treatment.

I’m in a not entirely congruous field where the ‘features’ are kind of a given, and you don’t want to tell them you’re going to deliver substandard quality. You always try your best in any case.

So a standard saying we have when faced with a client is “Do you want it good or do you want it Tuesday?” - so we can get a bit more time in.

the “cheap, light, strong” reminds me of an engineering one i like to use .. “Quick, Cheap, Good — Pick Two”

The project 3d rectangle - I try to view projects in 4 terms: “Time to market, functions, quality and cost.”

Picture the room you are in, if a wall is in front of you, look left and down to the corner and make that your origin (0,0,0). The left/right x-axis is the time to market. If the client wants it unreasonably soon that means lots of overtime (+x axis). The vertical y-axis is the functionality. I picture it as the pile of documention detailing the project’s specifications. More functionality means more documentation so (+y axis). The z-axis is the quality of the project. If the client leans forward to bang their head against the wall that is an indicator of low functionality (user antagonistic). If they lean back at ease its an indicator of user friendliness (+z axis).

The rectangle formed by these two points (0,0,0) and (x,y,z) is the pile of money it will take to get the project done.