29 January 2014

Closest Fastest Cheapest

The Turtle and the Hare is perhaps not our wisest fable. Is speed really the most important thing and if it is, what is the associated cost.

For those of you who are out of the loop, two out of three is not just a catchy Meatloaf song, but also an astoundingly accurate an increasingly popular theory. 

So here's how it works: There are three categories when choosing a service or service provider. Quality of Service, Cost of Service and the Speed of Delivery of that service. The catch is that out of these three you can only ever have two. Which two is entirely your decision.

You can have quality service at a good price but you cannot have it quickly. AKA The service provider is probably working on a lot of projects concuurently to make their pricing viable.

You can have a quality service delivered in a short time frame, but it will cost you more. Undivided attention is not cheap anywhere in the world.

You can have a service delivered inexpensively and quickly but you WILL compromise on the quality. 

We all dream of a magical land where you can choose all three. In fact the stubborn, petulant child inside of me stamps his feet every time he's faced with such a decision. Ultimately for me, when it comes to service providers I always put quality as my top priority. Because without this the second choice is unimportant.

If I have time to waste, I will ultimately choose Quality and Price. Would I choose Quality and Timeliness over a cheaper service with questionable quality? Every day of the week.

What choices do you make in your 2/3 and why?

I'd be interested to hear from you. 

Michael McShane

0402 330 142

Side note: This theory also has very interesting applications in a university setting. You can have any two of the following: Sleep, Good Grades or a Social life. These are some tough decisions.