Speed is good. Money likes speed. Success likes speed.

Rushing is not good.

Rushing leads to mistakes. Rushing leads to cutting corners.

Money doesn’t like rushing. Success doesn’t like rushing.

So what’s the difference?

Recently we were engaged in an IT project with a tight deadline. We realised we needed a new provider and the ‘perfect’ one happened to show up on our radar. We engaged with only them, then we got their proposal and it was over twice the cost we were expecting and delivered half of what we wanted. By this point late in the game it was either go with them or miss the deadline. I chose to miss the deadline. We had painted ourselves into a corner because we were rushing and it was time to admit that and do the right thing.

In our right minds I’d never engage a single provider, but we cut corners by only engaging one provider to hit a deadline.

When you shift out of responsible rapid progress to cutting corners it’s time to pump the brakes, because you might be running a full speed enthusiastically towards a cliff.