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Trade-Off Triangle

A one-page Trade-Off Triangle — the project-management law that no plan escapes: good, fast, cheap, pick two. The three constraints sit at the corners of a triangle and pull against each other. GOOD is quality and scope: how complete and polished the thing is. FAST is time: how quickly it ships. CHEAP is cost: the money and people you'll spend. You can optimise any two of them, but the third always has to give — want it good and fast, it won't be cheap; good and cheap, it won't be fast; fast and cheap, it won't be good. The trap is pretending you can have all three, then discovering which corner quietly gave way after it's too late. You name the project or decision you're weighing at the top, spell out what each corner means for it in concrete terms, then make the honest call: which two are you holding fixed, and which one are you consciously letting flex? Doing it on purpose beats finding out by accident. Use it when scoping a project, negotiating a deadline, pushing back on an impossible ask, or aligning a team on what actually matters most. Print it blank to work a trade-off out by hand.