Confidence determines speed vs. quality

DECISION MAKING
Determine a trade-off between speed and quality when building products.

In product development, speed and quality are two important variables. Prioritizing one is typically at the expense of the other. This tool will help you make that trade-off.

How to use it?

Your decision to prioritize speed or quality should be based on your confidence in:

  1. importance of the problem you're solving
  2. correctness of the solution to said problem

Before you start, make sure that your confidence is based on data instead of subjective views.

Illustration of how confidence in problem and solution determines whether to focus on speed or quality.

There are three basic outcomes:

  • Is your confidence in the problem importance low? Focus on speed.
  • Is your confidence in the problem and the solution high? Focus on quality.
  • Is your confidence in the problem importance high, but low in the solution? Balance both speed and quality.

Of course, confidence isn't a switch but rather a scale. Therefore your outcome will be also more nuanced.

Sources