Fast. Good. Cheap. You Can Choose Two.

Everyone loves a triangle, right? Procurement has one of the most ferocious: the cost, quality, time triangle. You can optimise for two maybe, but never all three, something always gives.  

Let's take a dive into the Time side of the triangle.  

The mistake I often see, is acting like speed (time) is free. It’s not. When time becomes the priority, cost is usually the first casualty and quality can often suffer too, whether you see it upfront or not. 

Fast? No problem, but what’s the cost? 

When the business wants something “yesterday”, you often don’t get the chance to build competitive tension. And without competition, most suppliers won’t sharpen their pencils or their thinking. Good salespeople can see this and read the room well. They’ll do their best to focus the conversation on outcomes and deliverables, not commercials. The engagement will often feel smooth and responsive, and often the business is happy as they got what they wanted. And they got it quickly. 

But here’s the other side of the coin: 

“Without a competitive process, you only get what you ask for.” 

One of the biggest benefits of competition, and using time, is uncovering what you didn’t know to ask. Those unknown unknowns that spark innovation, alternative models, and better value. 

Speed ≠ Value 

Take contract renewals for instance. Legacy services often roll on for years because there’s no visible problem, the system or service works, there are no issues, and so we renew. 

But if we had spent the time to look at the market we would have found that it has moved, that pricing has shifted and that the service is no longer market leading. 

Speed in these moments can often mean convenience. It feels efficient—but it isn’t. 

Pressure is to be managed, not to be fought against 

Sometimes, though, urgency is real. And when the business needs pace, Procurement shows up and delivers. That’s the crunch in the job. 

But there’s a difference between saying “yes or no” and navigating trade-offs smartly. I’ve done both and we can manage the urgency drivers in many ways, some of which are: 

• Interim solutions that give the business what they need now, while we plan a full sourcing event. 

• Enabling suppliers to flex on timelines when we have strong relationships—even if the contract doesn’t support it. 

• Making sure the business understands that with pace comes compromise and building that into the expectations. 

Procurement isn’t ever just Teams meetings, emails and buying things. It’s relationship management, both inside and out, but that’s for another article. 

Not all categories are equal 

The cost/quality/time triangle plays out differently depending on what you’re buying, how contractual terms are implemented and the amount of power you and the supplier are bringing to the table.  

The large software vendors will often offer little room to move. If you miss the renewal, your licences might stop working. This type of renewal means that time is always critical, if you do not manage it effectively cost will absolutely suffer. Quality might suffer if you are unable to get the correct license prior to the renewal. Fortunately, spending more money can fix this situation. But then, cost suffers further. 

It is therefore also important to understand your value to the supplier, so does knowing where you can flex and where you can’t. 

Procurement isn’t here to say “no.” We’re here to help the business understand the trade-offs. Sometimes that means going fast, but when we do, let’s be clear about what we’re giving up and trading off. 

What’s the last trade-off you had to make between cost, quality, and time? 

Article by Thomas Creedy, Consultant at 7 Step Solutions