What is most important: speed, budget, quality?

People & Leadership Strategy & Architecture Financial Management

Speed26%

Budget27%

Quality46%

785 PARTICIPANTS

3.4k views5 Comments

Director in Manufacturing, 1,001 - 5,000 employees

Depends on who is asking
CFO - budget
Business - speed and quality
CIO - quality and budget
PMO - quality- and they do not get a vote

5 1 Reply

Director in Manufacturing, 1,001 - 5,000 employees

And it an economic downturn it will all depend on budget. Don’t make the budget get shutdown….

CTO in Software, 201 - 500 employees

Not sure if this is a fair question. All three are important and form a triad of sorts. Most important would depend on either specific circumstances or general organizational/leadership bias. Nowadays I consider Relevance to be most important.

3 1 Reply

Director of Technology Strategy in Services (non-Government), 2 - 10 employees

Have to agree with Andrew here, it's a loaded question as all have importance in delivery. Problem is they are usually defined quite early on in a project and, as point in time estimates, can be influenced by factors unforeseen in planning.

They also influence each other (fast and cheap is not good, etc), so to pick one as most important is not going to lead to a good outcome.

They're also subjective measures that can vary depending on the viewpoint of the person measuring them. As Chris says above the CFO is going to have different priorities to the CIO.

My view is that these 3 measures are best used as indicators of progress rather than as critical success factors of a project.

Example - the rebuild of the Christchurch stadium (Lancaster Park - Wikipedia) ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup was on time, on budget, and quality was right where it needed to be. The project is still a failure because it never delivered the required outcomes.

Senior IT Manager in Government, 10,001+ employees

It depends upon what we're talking about.

If we're talking about my dinner:
If someone else is paying: quality.
If I'm paying: budget.
If I haven't eaten all day and I'm famished: speed.

Content you might like

Follow up to my previous travel question… What is your favorite place to travel to for work and why?

Peer Insights People & Leadership

Director of Systems Operations in Healthcare and Biotech, 10,001+ employees

By far the best place for me to travel was Shanghai. Loved the city and the vibe. Singapore is also an amazing place to have to be stationed for work.