It’s possible to rush a project through to completion. To cut a corner here and there. To call it complete knowing that the foundations are shaky.
We get there first. We make the deadline. We meet the budget. Everybody cheers (or more realistically, no one complains). The project launches.
But the perception of progress, is not progress. We’re borrowing time from the future and paying hefty interest.
Defects in our work surface only when least convenient. The re-work takes more time than the original task and draws our focus from the next project.
Relationships grow tense. We’re fixing the problems, but they don’t believe the work is finished. They’re looking for more gaps. Our credibility is shot and the trust is much harder to rebuild than it was to lose. We need new customers.
Low quality work looks quicker but we are almost always better off doing it right, not twice.
And in the times where you aren’t, is it worth doing at all?