As with a lot of managers, I’ve lived my career by the QCD triangle – that is, quality, cost, and, delivery. If the term is not familiar, perhaps the old adage is – “build it right, fast, or cheap: pick two.” And I definitely still believe in this idea. There’s no better way to illustrate how certain expectations from management can be, well, downright impossible.
However, conversations I’ve had recently with people has led me to believe that the QCD triangle, or at least some interpretations of it, might be a little misguided. Until more recent reflections, I for sure have definitely had some wrong impressions.
Here’s the story – one of the teams I manage was trying out something new and unfamiliar related to the design and coding approach in their project. Due to unforeseen difficulties unfortunately, it was starting to become clear that the release date was at risk, and the only way to de-risk was to abandon the new design approach – or at least ease out a bit on its implementation.
The big question was then raised, “should we build it right or build it fast?”
A dilemma?
That was when I felt some doubt in myself. Was I, at this point in time, becoming the kind of manager that expected way too much? It felt like a dilemma for sure. But was it really?
Reflecting on that question was when I realized a fundamental feature (or flaw, depending on which side of the coin you’re looking at) of the QCD triangle – it’s actually way more flexible than it’s often made to sound. There are three parameters in the triangle and at least one of them is, more often that not, not a very objective measure.
“Cost” and “delivery”, without a doubt, are measurable and more often than not limited. You can’t argue with solid numbers and dates – you either make it within the budget and the deadline, or you don’t. “Quality”, however, is often subjective. Note that while this is the most likely scenario, it’s not the only scenario – in certain industries where life and limb are at stake, there are quality standards you must invariably adhere to. But in the software business, the overwhelming majority of projects are basically an experiment and experiments are hypotheses of what might be right. These hypotheses likewise can as easily be proven wrong.
So let’s look at that big question again – “should we build it right or build it fast?”
Before you even make that call, it’s worth taking more time to revisit what right means to you. I definitely can’t tell you what it is – only you have the context to figure that out. Once you do, you’ll have much better confidence assessing your constraints and a lot of leverage to negotiate either the budget or the deadline.
Dexter is an engineering manager at Synacy, a co-founder of ATeam Business Software Solutions, and founder of TechManagement.Life. He loves to share his experiences and thoughts on managing software teams and running businesses.