Fast, Inexpensive, Restrained and Elegant is the name of the
book by Dan Ward and is a variation of NASA's Faster, Better, Cheaper (FBC)
program.
His assertion is that you can achieve a better and more innovative
outcome by limiting the project budget, tightening the deadlines and shrinking
the project team.
It seems counter-intuitive but it reminds me of the opening
of Williamson's The End Is Near and It's Going To Be Awesome where he compares
the evolution of the cell phone with the evolution of many government programs.
The cell phone has gotten smaller, lighter, less expensive and more powerful
since its inception compared to, for instance, the Department of Education that
has grown exponentially and costing increasingly more money while delivering a
poorer product. Ward points out that most projects with generous budgets
usually come back for more.
When I read the summary of this book I immediately thought of Williams
Technologies, a Charleston transmission re-manufacturer I toured in 2000. They
had this really cool computer automated/orchestrated assembly line work
instruction and cell coordination system called ProNET. I remember asking the
plant manager, Jeff Anderson, about the development of the program and he told
me it was a multi-discipline team of 7 employees, working on their own time
with a budget of $27,000. The budget included $15,000 for 10 computers. They
had the project online in 7 months!
You can follow the links and see what has developed into
from it's humble beginnings. One thing is for sure - it is a perfect example of
the F.I.R.E and FBC strategy for project execution.
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