A friend of mine recently introduced me to the idea of the “project triangle” as it applies to making albums, and it occurred to me that it perfectly illustrates a concept that I’m constantly trying to explain to my clients and musician friends.

You Can Pick Only Two

“Fast” represents the time it takes to make your record, “Good” represents the final quality of your record, and “Cheap” represents the total cost of making your record. The points on the triangle are in constant conflict with each other, and to obtain any two points the third must be sacrificed.

In terms of making albums, it plays out like this:

• Making it “cheap” and “fast” means you will sacrifice quality.
• Making it “good” and “cheap” means it will take time and not be quick.
• Making it “good” and “fast” means it will not be cheap.

YOU CAN ONLY PICK TWO.

It’s wise to be mindful of this concept as it helps with establishing realistic goals and expectations. This model also works for all kinds of other projects such as designing websites, making movies, etc.

The project triangle on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_triangle