29 Jul How do you want your project?

How do you want your project?

There is no doubt that this polemic question generates a fair amount of controversy, since we can practically always find some exception that confirms the rule. And I say this because all of us have surely come across some project that does not follow this premise to the letter. But nonetheless, it is an interesting perspective on how you want your project to be.

Variables and Combinations:

• For free + Quality + Fast = Utopia
• Cheap + Fast = Botched
• Fast + Quality = Well-paid
• Quality + Fast + Cheap = Utopia
• Fast + For free = Scam
• Cheap + Quality = It can’t be fast
• For free + Quality = Do it yourself

This image basically summarizes  what we are almost always looking for in a project. We want it to be cheap, to be done fast and to be of quality.

I suppose that this is what we all want when we request a service. But as we well know (or should know), many times these expectations are not fulfilled. In real life it is very complicated for these three elements to come together in the same equation. Let’s get into a little bit more detail and analyze the combinations offered by these four variables, which are determining factors in the final result of our project.

For free + Quality + Fast = Utopia: I think we would all agree on qualifying this point as utopic.

Quality + Fast + Cheap = Utopia: In this case, although it is also quite close to utopic, it is a little closer to reality and could be plausible. With the competitiveness that exists nowadays we are all fighting to reduce our delivery times as much as possible, without reducing quality but rather trying to increase it and at the best possible cost. Personally I believe a competitive project is better than a cheap one. This is the course of action that should make us decide, since commercially speaking this would be our best business card. The most important nuance in this point is: What is expensive and what is cheap? It all depends on what we compare it to and if what we compare it to is identical, similar or different.

Cheap + Fast = Botched: I believe that we could all agree on this point. Generally, if something is cheap and fast it is usually badly done. At the very least the probabilities of this happening increase exponentially. The saying “Haste makes waste” comes to mind.

Fast + Quality = Well-paid: As with the previous point I would wager to say that almost all of us would agree that these two premises have a cost. And this cost corresponds to the hours of work required to do a project quickly and with maximum quality.

Fast + For free = Scam: I seriously doubt that anyone firmly believes that the combination of ‘fast’ and ‘for free’ in a project or service is not associated to fine print or that it won’t turn out to be a disappointment.

Cheap + Quality = It can’t be fast: It is quite obvious that a cheap and quality project generally can’t be fast.

For free + Quality = Do it yourself: I imagine that very few of us would associate ‘for free’ with ‘quality’. In order for this combination to be complied with, the easiest thing is to do it ourselves. We are unlikely to find quality in a project for free.

After interpreting this image it becomes clear that quality requires a certain amount of hours of work. And as a general rule, this good service means adding some additional cost or making the product/service more expensive.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize a question when we are talking about expensive or cheap. With regard to what? Whenever we compare two products we should do so based on the same premises and keeping in mind the performance it can give us. In our case as manufacturers of labels and flexible packaging, depending on the material, lacquer and inks used, the machine performance varies. The labeling process is also influenced by the problems a product causes due to static electricity. A price saving can turn out to be fictitious if afterwards machine performance goes down. These aspects will be discussed in another post since there is no shortage of examples and cases.

Meanwhile in Rieusset we continue to work at getting closer to utopia. I invite you to leave your comments.