Cheaper, Better, Faster

Recently, I've finally heard a minister define the words cheaper, better and faster. It does offer a different perspective on their definition because it's not what people expected. This is my definition of what I perceived from that article.


Cheaper
Doing more work with the same pay (not less pay) to increase productivity.

Better
Be more productive by going for courses to understand new ways of doing things and not be afraid of trying it out.

Faster
Improve your business processes through other means like IT-enabling the processes or streamlining the business flow.


I believe many people take the words literally but somehow this wasn't the case when I read the article. Do I agree with it? Personally, I'll agree with the definitions if it is in the following order:

1. Better
2. Faster
3. Cheaper

The reason is quite simple. After going for courses and understanding new ways of doing things, you'll be able to better streamline your business processes / enabling it through IT and thus increase the staff's productivity and increase the revenue. The "Cheaper" option is actually a by-product of being better and faster.

The funny thing is that by my definition, it's possible to be "cheaper" and yet get salary raises because your increase in productivity will actually help generate more revenue for the company, and will help "fund" your salary increments/promotions.

Personally, I'll just use the 2 punch lines. Better and Faster. Those are the actions that you'll need to take before you'll reach the end goal... Cheaper.