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The triple constraint, i.e., the golden triangle


cs_evans

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All buyers, new and experienced alike, should always keep in mind the golden triangle of cost, quality, speed.

In short, it means of cost, quality, and speed, you can only pick 2.

Therefore,

  1. if you want high quality and low cost, it will not be fast.
  2. If you want high quality and fast, it will not be cheap.
  3. If you want fast and cheap, it will not be high quality.

In other words, there is always a trade-off when negotiating a purchase.  There are some nuances to the golden triangle, as well as variations, and yes opponents, but it is a good way to ground a negotiation. 

It is amazing to me how many buyer requests I see where they want an experienced professional to do their job in the next 2 hours for $5.  Maybe you will get lucky sometimes doing this, but in the long run, the buyer will suffer reputational risk, receiving poor quality, or other consequences. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/1/2022 at 2:16 AM, cs_evans said:

they want an experienced professional to do their job in the next 2 hours for $5

Well said. If an experienced professional could do that job in in 2 hours, they would be working with clients paying like ten times for that, by now. 

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4 hours ago, visualstudios said:

That's too optimistic. I say you can pick one, not two. If you want high quality, it won't be cheap, no matter how long it takes. Why would I sell a high quality service cheaply just because it takes longer?

That triple-constrain theory has been around for decades, maybe even over a century.  It has a lot of push-back from some people, but it is still a good learning tool to help get people's head in the right spot.  You are right, quality is always going to be more expensive, but the way to think about the constraint is, if you want quality and quickly it is going to be more expensive. 

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2 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

Yes, which doesn't make the alternative cheap.

What is your point?  I've already said there are a lot of people who don't agree with the theory, but it is illustrative for people with little or no business background to get their head around. 

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20 hours ago, visualstudios said:

Why would I sell a high quality service cheaply just because it takes longer?

You can think of it as, "filler" projects. Like when a project is not urgent to the client, it would be fine if a professional doesn't have to take out time out of their busy higher paying schedule to do it. They can get on it whenever they find it convenient, or during low sales. 

Think of extra fast deliveries. If faster deliveries cost more than usual, then on its opposite, super slow ones can be a little bit cheaper.

14 hours ago, cs_evans said:

it is illustrative for people with little or no business background to get their head around.

Yes, this seems the correct argument for the theory.

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/1/2022 at 1:46 AM, cs_evans said:

All buyers, new and experienced alike, should always keep in mind the golden triangle of cost, quality, speed.

In short, it means of cost, quality, and speed, you can only pick 2.

Therefore,

  1. if you want high quality and low cost, it will not be fast.
  2. If you want high quality and fast, it will not be cheap.
  3. If you want fast and cheap, it will not be high quality.

In other words, there is always a trade-off when negotiating a purchase.  There are some nuances to the golden triangle, as well as variations, and yes opponents, but it is a good way to ground a negotiation. 

It is amazing to me how many buyer requests I see where they want an experienced professional to do their job in the next 2 hours for $5.  Maybe you will get lucky sometimes doing this, but in the long run, the buyer will suffer reputational risk, receiving poor quality, or other consequences. 

It's true but 1 out of 10 understands and admit it, else other people are looking to get everything done in $5.

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19 minutes ago, dev__anik said:

Yes, You are right if the seller is a novice, he can do the job cheaper than an experienced seller.

Unless if the order is done so poorly that the buyer has to resort to purchasing another seller to properly complete the task...

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