[zaSmilingIdiot]

Im not particularly fond of these types of lists, but given the author and the material posted, this is definitely an exception.

One thing I didnt quite get:

> Every project is a triangle made of time, money, and quality; shortening the length of one side necessarily lengthens one or—more often—both of the other sides.

If I'm assuming the longer a side is, the "more" of it that is required, then the way I understand it is that the "quality" side might need to rather be "inverse quality", such that shortening the quality side length increases quality. As per the original statement, a reduction in quality (shortening the quality length) increases time and/or money, whereas IME when building something out, quality results come at a (time/money) cost. I guess it half makes sense if the perspective is that defering on quality (shortening the line) costs more in the long run (increasing length of the other 2 lines). But then taken from the perspective of the other 2 sides of the triangle: reducing money or time doesnt result in an increase (longer side) of quality... typically the opposite.

So genuine question: did I misunderstand the point?

[criddell]

I think it’s the class pick two conundrum. Want it quickly and high quality? It’s going to take a lot of money. Want cheap and high quality? It’s going to take a lot of time. Want it fast and cheap? Quality will suffer.

[junon]

I've always put it this way:

Things can get done quickly, correctly, or cheaply. Pick two.

[layer8]

If something takes a lot of time (= work?), how can it be done cheaply? Or is that in the sense of waiting for a long time for the right inspiration to hit you for how it can be done cheaply?

[criddell]

I have a couple of minor carpentry projects going on. I could finish them quickly if I bought or rented great power tools. I don't want to spend the money though, so I'm using mostly hand tools and manual labor.

[layer8]

My point is that I wouldn’t say that that labor comes for free. In any case, that triangle would then not apply in a commercial setting, where you have to pay those doing the labor, in addition to it taking time.

[TheCleric]

It still applies in a lot of circumstances. For example when to buy off the shelf (for $$$$) vs rolling your own solution (which will take longer but could be less money in the long run).

[criddell]

If for your project, time == money, then you only have two tradeoffs and this bit of wisdom wouldn't apply to you.

[hiAndrewQuinn]

Take this far enough and you end up with something like the Linder Theorem.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/06/th...