There’s an old axiom in business that says that whenever you want something, you can get it “good, fast, cheap – pick two.” And there’s a corollary to that which says sometimes you don’t even get two.
And of course, each of those things is on a spectrum. Something can be the cheapest option but still not cheap enough to be in your budget or give you a positive ROI on your problem.
So for each solution, do a quick check – which is cheapest, which is best, and which is fastest? And for each one, then ask: “How cheap is cheapest? How good is best? How fast is fastest?”
Sometimes the best solution is just the one that gets you out of a bad situation the fastest. If you can’t solve a problem, maybe you can swap it out for one you can. “Out of the frying pan, into the fire” can be a good thing if you have a bucket of water – wouldn’t help with the pan, but might put out the fire.
The point is, don’t always try to optimize. Just try to move. Out of the frying pan, if you have to.
The Opportunity Machine 