I’m a CMMA member and was recently asked to provide a written response to the question below. Because I share practically everything, below is my response.  Hope you enjoy it.

Question:
Remember this old adage? Good/Fast/Cheap: Pick Any Two

Does it still hold, or have technology changes and production efficiencies made it possible for communications media projects to be all three?  We’d like to hear your opinion. We’ll publish your contribution in an article in the next issue of e-visions. If you think the adage still holds, tell us why. If you think some projects can be good, fast and inexpensive, give us examples.

My Answer:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I out to go from here?  That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.  I don’t much care where…said Alice.  Then it doesn’t matter which way you go, said the Cat.”  – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.

As long as I can remember I haven’t liked playing by other people’s rules so if I may I would answer this question by only choosing one which is doing communication projects well (good).  I always strive for good but I’m constantly striving for change and I don’t want myself, my department, or my company to ever be thought of anything less than good.  If you want to go fast and be cheap you can be successful for a while but ultimately the things you overlook in the process will catch up with you.

I have a young son at home so a lot of my time is spent watching children’s movies.  I’m older now and am noticing that I’ve forgotten a lot of the lessons the movies of my youth taught me but the good news is I don’t think I’m alone.  Having a child has taught me how to think like a kid again so when I saw the question of whether we as communications media professionals can have good, fast, and cheap media projects I had to chime in.  Going back to kid’s movies, Alice in Wonderland can teach us a lot about making difficult choices.

In the first few minutes of the movie Alice sees a White Rabbit running past her.  The White Rabbit proclaims “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say goodbye, hello! I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!” and disappears into a rabbit hole.  Alice decides to follow him down the rabbit hole which in turn makes her fall to a hall of locked doors of various sizes.  Alice can see through the lock of the small door a beautiful garden but she is much too large to fit through it.  She therefore decides to drink a bottled with “DRINK ME” on it which makes her become so small she can no longer reach the key on the table.  She then eats a cake labeled “EAT ME” which causes her to grow so large she can barely fit inside the hall.

If you are like me you have a lot on your plate and you’re late, you’re late, you’re late!  We have different paths (doors) to try and get our work done but we still seem to fit it all in.  We are constantly juggling doing good, fast, and cheap work and it isn’t easy.  On top of that we are in a recession and budgets are being reduced so doing things cheaply is likely at the forefront of many of our minds.  However, with that being said I believe it still possible to have good, fast, and cheap communications projects.

Times of recession and depression have traditionally been when society learns to do more with less.  If you like change you’ll love recessions because traditionally they have brought periods of increased innovation.  Because people are trying to do more with less communications professionals will start to reevaluate their service offerings within the companies they serve, as well as their processes.  Companies who don’t have strong offerings will be absorbed, replaced, or dissolved by more compelling and/or cost effective solutions.  The other thing recessions bring is accountability.  People will need to start focusing on being productive rather than being busy.

Below are some tips I’ve found over the years for balancing good, fast, and cheap communications.

Good
Whenever possible, choose good over fast and cheap.  There is the old saying that “haste is waste” but old habits must die hard because only until recently have many communications professionals started to analyze the ROI of doing things quickly vs. effectively.  Always try to think about the long term implications before making a major decision.  Think about the last project you worked on hastily, how did that work for you?

Speed can sometimes win out over doing it well but you usually can’t be successful if you don’t have lots of money to help you along the way.  If you had a lot of resources to access when you needed to go quickly, have you noticed how speed has affected your motivation?  In the famous tale The Tortoise and the Hare the tortoise boasts how fast he is but becomes so unmotivated to win he doesn’t take the race seriously.  The Hare who slowly and methodically trudges along ends up winning the race.  The turtle never lost the “eye of the tiger” and you shouldn’t either.  Don’t rest on your laurels because speed can only get you so far.

Cheap
Don’t be fooled by the old saying that “you get what you pay for”.  Today’s communication tools rival what cost then times as much just five years ago.  If your company isn’t looking at what the industry is doing outside the company please let me know your stock symbol because I’ll make sure not to invest in it.  Constantly look at trends and never think expensive always wins because in the end it isn’t how big your budget or communications tool is but rather what you are able to do with it and I truly believe that.

Fast
I know this is going to sound “cheesy” but have you ever listened to the lyrics of the song “Sunscreen”?  That song forever changed the way I look at the pace of life.

“Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.”

Some departments are ahead of others, some are behind…the race is long, and in the end, it is all about showing value to your organization.  Remember Alice hastily following the rabbit who only focused on time down the rabbit hole.  Rabbits are stressed about time, be the turtle and focus on finishing the race with purpose instead of simply crossing the finish line.

Summary
Which way should you go?  Good?  Fast? Cheap?  If you don’t know where you want to get to it doesn’t matter.

Jeremy Person

I am flying to Minneapolis, MN this morning out of Oakland Airport.  I arrived to the airport on time and learned my flight is delayed until 10:15am so I get some time to catch up on email, news, and blogging which is nice.  Oakland has free Wi-Fi so I’m just hanging out being an electrical outlet hog charging all of my devices before the flight.  I don’t think I get into Minneapolis until a little after 8pm now but that may end up working out better because I wouldn’t have liked driving in downtown traffic not being familiar with the area any how.  Got my Starbucks and am at the very end of the terminal so I can’t people watch (too much), but it has been an amusing morning. A lady with a young daughter was yelling at a ticketing agent because our flight was delayed, a mom yelled at her husband from across the terminal that he couldn’t control the kids while she sat and watched TV, and my favorite being a TSA Agent saying “make sure and check your pockets and take off your belts…you are going through a metal detector so it will detect metal…sigh” upon me forgetting to take off my belt before going through the detector.  I fortunately remembered to take the ChapStick out of my pocket and slip it into my luggage before checking it this morning.

Every time I fly I am reminded by how much society has changed and I think I can argue it isn’t for the better.  We have let our fears control us, society has become complacent to previously unacceptable social norms, and people just don’t seem as nice as they used to be.  Seriously if we had a time machine and could go back 20 years to tell people in the future you can’t get through airport security with ChapStick in your pocket people would laugh right?  If we said we don’t bat an eye at paying $7.54 (before tax) for an iced coffee and muffin do you think people 20 years ago would find that acceptable?  If we were to tell them that gas prices were upwards of $3.40 a gallon which made airlines charge for checking luggage but didn’t stop when the price of a gallon of gas fell back to $2.50 would people 20 years ago find that acceptable?  If the answer to those questions are no, then why are we as a society so complacent?  Oh and update on the lady who was yelling at her husband for not controlling the kids.  She has moved from the TV to her laptop while dad continues to watch them and he is settling an argument the kids are having with a game of rock, paper, scissors.

Speaking of approximately 20 years ago, in 1984 Twisted Sister sang “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.  More than 20 years later not only are we taking it we seem happy to take it.  In summary I would like to say long live the 80′s,  I hope society wakes up and stands up for what is right, and can we start being at least a little nicer while “taking it”?  :)

Death is a pretty morbid subject but I am going to try and put a positive spin on it.  Death is inevitable so almost everyone has likely had the the misfortune of losing someone close to them. I have been very fortunate to have not lost too many loved ones (knock on wood) but those I have lost definitely had an impact on me.  For instance my grandfather passed away a few years ago who is one of the most gentle and kind people I have come to know.  Seeing him in an open casket was nice in that I got to see him one last time but obviously difficult for the mind to consume.  We often take those around us for granted but during funerals we are all reminded how fragile life is and how important it is to appreciate those around us.

At work we lost an executive who was deeply loved and appreciated a few months ago that I had met at a restaurant about a year prior to his passing.  I remember hearing everyone talk about him the day everyone learned of his passing and how many people said they would miss him and how genuinely nice he was to others which leads me to the reason I am writing this post.  I recently heard a quote which basically said those we will miss upon death are people who came into the world crying when everyone around them were smiling but when they leave the world they will be smiling when everyone around them is crying.

Growing up I was a big fan of Donald Trump because I loved reading autobiographies of those who were successful.  Obviously there are many forms of success and in business I love looking at what people did to become successful.  If you watch The Apprentice on TV you know that Donald Trump is big on loyalty and in a blog post in 2005 he considers it his “highest virtue”.  Loyalty is important in business as Trump notes but it is also important in every day life.  Everyone at one point in their life gets burned but look at those around you which you trust and who in difficult times “sticks and stays and makes it pay” as a church pastor once said every Sunday.

Fred Reichheld wrote The Loyalty Effect where he defines loyalty as “the willingness to make an investment or personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship.”  Be wary of those who don’t invest in you but also know to be invested in you have to reciprocate that investment in others.

It is said that in times of crisis people show their true character and I really believe that.  In good times everyone will help you and most people are more than happy to be your friend.  However, in bad times really look at who is loyal to you because those are your true allies and friends.  In life we have to trust people, in fact trust/loyalty is really what helps make our world successful, innovative, and beautiful.  However, if you have ever had anyone be disloyal to you in life or business you know how painful it can be so chose your allies carefully.

As I have mentioned in past posts, I was at a Communications Media Managers Association (CMMA) event last week in Arizona.  Before I was a manager I always hated not getting any information about what my bosses got to learn at the events they attended so I vowed when I became a manager I would communicate everything (as much as possible anyway) that I learned.

CMMA brought a speaker in to talk about the differences of the generations in the workforce which I thought was interesting being a person from the Generation “X” era.  She said her son wears flip flops to work and she gives him a hard time for doing so but he says “oh mom people don’t care what I wear to work”.  Each generation is bringing their own style and way of thinking to the workforce.  As older genreations retire newer generations are going to greatly change the way we manage people, think, and work.

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