Mastering the Product Triangle: Faster, Cheaper, Better
Why This Matters
A few years back, I realised something that completely changed how I approach building websites and running projects: you can’t have it all, but you can get a lot closer than most people think. Every week at Pixelhaze, I talk to business owners and creatives who dream of launching top-quality sites without spending a fortune or waiting until next Christmas for launch. Trying to get “faster, cheaper, better” feels like ordering the best whisky at lemonade prices with next day delivery and expecting no hangover.
Here’s the real cost: if you focus only on speed, your work can get sloppy. Aim for rock-bottom prices and you end up with headaches and cut corners. Chase perfect quality, and you’ll often watch deadlines whizz by or find yourself paying twice what you expected. Most people assume, “That’s the price of doing business,” but I’ve found that it doesn’t have to be.
At Pixelhaze, we’ve developed a model (inspired in part by Hormozi’s triangle of speed, cost, and quality) that allows you to stretch all three corners further than the old rules suggest. Anyone who has ever sat up at 3am fixing last-minute problems, drained their bank account paying for ‘premium’ tools, or struggled to keep clients happy on tight deadlines faces a tough challenge, but understanding its shape is the first step toward a better way.
Common Pitfalls
Let’s start with a common cliché: “You can have it quick, cheap, or good – pick two.” This phrase is everywhere. Clients use it, agencies use it, even freelancers say it with a knowing sigh as if these rules were handed down from the gods of project management.
But that belief falls apart under scrutiny. Here’s how most people get stuck:
1. Compromising out of habit: Because everyone repeats the “pick two” rule, businesses give up before they even try to find better solutions.
2. Overcomplicating basics: People chase shiny new tools or complicated workflows in the hope that complexity will solve their problems. (Spoiler: usually it creates new ones.)
3. Underpricing as the only way to win: Especially in competitive markets, dropping your rates seems like the only way to get chosen. The end result is working twice as hard for half as much, and still feeling like you’re falling behind.
4. Speed at the expense of everything else: In the rush to deliver “next-day” results, teams burn out and mistakes creep in. This leads to botched launches, reputation hits, and emergency late nights.
I’ve fallen into every single one of these holes over the years. The trick is to acknowledge the triangle and learn how to stretch it smartly instead of setting traps for yourself.
Step-by-Step Fix
This is the system we use at Pixelhaze for balancing speed, cost, and quality with enough flexibility to keep our clients (and ourselves) happy. No alchemy required, just process and practical tools.
1. Start With a Strong Foundation (Don’t Reinvent the Wheel)
If you want to deliver quickly, don’t start from zero every time. We use Squarespace as our core platform, with our own pre-built library of Square Forge templates. Imagine you’re making a roast dinner. It is much faster and usually better to start with a tried-and-tested recipe than to make the gravy from scratch every time.
- Practical Example: Our template system means most projects begin 80–90% built. We bake in best practices, accessibility, and compliance from the start.
- Pixelhaze Tip: Keep a “greatest hits” folder with layouts, graphics, and assets that have worked well before. When a new brief comes in, adapt existing resources instead of staring at a blank page. It saves hours and prevents analysis paralysis.
2. Clarify the Brief Upfront
You can’t fix what you didn’t agree on. The fastest projects always begin with a crystal-clear client workshop. No endless email chains. No “can you just…?” requests after launch.
- Practical Example: We book a short, sharp session early in the process and pin down site goals, target audience, required features, and must-haves. This results in a bulletproof blueprint for the build.
- Pixelhaze Tip: Use call recordings and concise written summaries. Ask clients to review and sign off to ensure everyone’s memory matches when launch day comes around.
3. Automate Repetitive Tasks
The time we used to waste on resizing images, running basic checks, or scheduling emails is now handled with automation tools. This isn’t about turning your team into robots; it’s about getting humans to focus on work that actually moves the needle.
- Practical Example: We plug in automations for image optimisation and set up pre-flight test scripts that find broken links or accessibility issues before a human ever clicks “publish.”
- Pixelhaze Tip: Look for “one minute annoyances” – those little things you fix repeatedly – and see if you can automate or batch them. Ten annoyances solved saves hours a month.
4. Systemise Feedback and Revision Loops
The most expensive delays are usually caused by endless rounds of feedback and vague “tweaks.” Get ruthless about when and how you ask for feedback, and be ultra-clear about cut-off points.
- Practical Example: Our process has two set feedback windows: one after initial concept, one after build. Clients know in advance that changes outside those windows are extra, and so do we.
- Pixelhaze Tip: Use a short video walkthrough (use Loom or similar) to guide clients through the staging site. It avoids misunderstanding, questions get answered quicker, and the feedback is concrete.
5. Invest in Quality by Investing in Training and Tools (But Only What Pays Off)
It’s tempting to buy every premium tool that promises better results. Most tools gather virtual dust and drain your margins. Instead, we audit every purchase: does it genuinely make our work faster, cheaper, or better in clear, measurable ways?
- Practical Example: For high-end builds, we upgrade to specialist plugins or bring in experienced partners only when the added value meets our quality threshold (and is worth the charge). For the rest, our core toolkit is lean and well-used.
- Pixelhaze Tip: Schedule quarterly reviews of your tool subscriptions. If something hasn’t paid for itself with saved time or noticeably better results, it’s up for retirement.
6. Build in Checks and Learning Loops
Mistakes are inevitable, but repeating them is a choice. We use a pre-launch checklist for all projects and keep a running “what went wrong” log for future training.
- Practical Example: Before any website goes live, we run through a “pre-flight” protocol: testing every feature, checking forms, verifying mobile display, running accessibility scans, and so on. The most common issues are caught early, before the client sees them.
- Pixelhaze Tip: After every project, spend 15 minutes noting any issues or delays and how you solved them. Refine your process with these mini post-mortems. Over time, failures become your biggest asset.
What Most People Miss
Most teams fixate on the obvious trade-offs such as quick wins or cheap fixes and ignore the compounding effect of tiny daily improvements. The mindset shift is simple: avoid swinging wildly between “cheap and fast” one month and “slow and expensive” the next. Focus on process, not only outcomes.
The key to success here is to make incremental improvements to your systems and keep reusing them, so your triangle gradually expands. Fast does not have to mean slapdash, and reasonable cost does not have to mean “race to the bottom.” Systematic efficiency should be your priority, not shortcuts. The longer you commit to this way of thinking, the more dramatic the results: happier clients, better reviews, less stress, and a business that scales without eating you alive.
The Bigger Picture
When you get the Product Triangle working for you, several quiet but powerful shifts happen:
- Fewer late nights: You’re not scrambling to fix last-minute errors because your process catches them.
- Better margins: All that saved time adds up, letting you raise profits or lower costs as needed, instead of cutting corners to compete.
- Clients say “wow” more often: Consistency and quality are visible. Even the pickiest client notices when a project lands on time and on spec.
- Your team stops dreading projects: Morale shoots up when staff aren’t dealing with avoidable problems.
- Space for innovation: With less chaos, you get to experiment, launch new services, or just take the odd Friday afternoon for yourself. (Did someone say pub quiz?)
Expanding your triangle gives your reputation a real boost. Instead of simply completing projects, you start winning referrals and repeat work because people can trust you to deliver what you promise.
Wrap-Up
Here is what really matters: you don’t have to pick just two out of faster, cheaper, or better.
With focus, systems, and a bit of stubbornness, you can move that triangle outwards month after month. Use strong foundations like pre-built frameworks. Pin down your brief up front and systemise feedback. Automate the boring bits, upgrade your training when it adds clear value, and treat every hiccup as an asset for next time.
The reward for this approach is simple: projects that move smoothly, budgets that make sense, and clients that come back for more.
If you want more helpful systems like this, join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.