Learning to Live within Boundaries

The Business Golden Triangle Maxim says, "Only two of these three are available to any consumer." To recognize its truth, just try to imagine getting just what you want that is very high quality, immediately, for very little money - that's a fantasy world. Or the polar oppostite, getting something of very low quality over a long period, with project delays, while spending a lot - that's getting taken to the cleaners. So, the rational choices in a procurement or business decision are to pick two factors that are most important and relax the third constraint:

1) Fast and less expensive, but lower quality. Strategy: 1) Lower your standards (accept less quality or fewer options, usually acheived through extensive planning and negotiation between stakeholders to determine the must-have items and the nice-to-have items and then setting priorities).

2) High quality and less expensive, but takes more time. Strategy: Start the project earlier (to be a responsible steward of time as a resource, a city would start a low-grade project immediately to get a jump on things and move at their own pace, to allow adequate time to find savings and devleop creative approaches that leverage existing assets or competitive advantages).

3) Fast and high quality, but costs more. Strategy: Pay more (budget more to accommodate a higher expense, create a strong business case to justify a financial strategy, identify alternate grant or funding sources, etc.).

Of course, there is nothing to prevent the wise consumer from doing all three of these strategies, in order to keep his options open - doing that would provide optimal flexibility to let the city then choose the constraint to relax when it came time for a procurement or decision.

The bottom line? If you are interested in municipal wireless as an option for your community, you are best served to bring in professional help to find the right fit, devise a strategy, and develop a business case, all of which will position you and allow you and your city:

1) to get serious about things sooner than later;
2) to retain the most options for when you do have to decide;
3) to leverage time as a resource;
4) to get the best prices; and
5) to keep quality high.

There's no substitute for taking the bull by the horns and taking responsibility for your own destiny. There's no substitute for approaching a project with as many factors in your favor as possible. And there's no substitute for spending a little up front to save a lot on the back end.