The Trade-Off Triangle of Web Development (Or, Why You Can’t Get Everything You Want)

Sometimes, we have to tell customers about The Trade-Off Triangle. It’s something everyone should understand when it comes to web development but something very few people are aware of.

The Trade-Off Triangle addresses what you can expect to get from a web developer and understanding this concept will save a lot of time and money in the future. So let’s dig in.

Let’s start by talking about…

Opportunity Cost & Tradeoffs

In economics, “Opportunity Cost’ refers to the idea that making a decision for one thing, often excludes one (at least) other thing.

Trade-offs are simply the brass tacks of those costs–what specifically you get, or give up when making one decision over another one. 

Opportunity Cost Example: Mercedes Vs Tesla

Let’s take for example the idea of buying a new car.

Let’s say I’m in the market for a new car, and I’m trying to choose between a Mercedes SC 300 and a Tesla 3. 

Those two cars are roughly equivalent in price, at least the starting prices are roughly equivalent, and let’s say that if I buy one I can’t buy the other one. 

So the idea that if I get the Mercedes I can’t have the Tesla, and vice versa, is the idea of an Opportunity Cost. Getting the Mercedes excludes the Tesla and actually any other car, given my budget. 

Trade-offs

The trade offs are the specific features associated with that decision. 

So, for instance, if I choose to buy the Tesla I’m going to get something that goes zero to 60 super fast. It’s going to have a 350 mile range, but it’s electric and while that’s really cool, with the Mercedes, I can get gas anywhere, at millions of stations around the world. 

It’s a Mercedes, so it’s got a luxury interior so that’s got some panache as well. So, the opportunity cost is one versus the other. The trade offs are what I get when I make that decision, speed or electric vehicle, or getting gas anywhere, etc. 

Why does this matter? Because in web development the main trade offs are typically going to be between:

Scope and Quality: What gets done 

Cost: How much it costs to get it done 

Time & Speed: How long it takes 

Generally speaking, the more complex the project, the more customization involved, the more acute those trade offs are. 

When it comes to development, it’s very, very rare that you’re going to get all three…in other words, you’re not going to get a massive scope, really fast for no money. It’s very rare you’re going to get that kind of opportunity.

You should generally be prepared to pick two of those options. 

The Trade-off Triangle: You Can’t Have All Three

Here are some examples of trade offs we hear from customers. 

Customer A says, “I want a brand new website, with custom design graphics, enterprise infrastructure, they want it to rank in Google on day one, they want it to be this amazing thing that’s never been built before…clearly, that person’s premium is on the scope. 

So the question I would have talking to that person is, “Well okay, you want this really awesome website with bells and whistles and the whole nine yards…what’s the next most important thing?” 

If the next most important thing is saving money then you should expect that it’s going to take a lot of time, with a lot of back and forth. If these two dimensions are the important ones, then we’re giving up the time dimension. 

Similarly, if getting this custom website with bells and whistles completed quickly is important, well then they’re going to have to sacrifice the cost dimension.

I can pick two but I can’t have all three. 

Customer B wants a website quickly; maybe they’re running an ad campaign or starting a new business and need something relatively quickly.

In that case, the premium is clearly on speed and timing. 

But what’s the next most important thing? 

If timing is important and I want to save money, well then expect some give on the scope dimension. Expect that you’re going to get a website that’s a templated website with a few minor changes as the way to get it done quickly and really cheaply.

However, if you want to have some really good customizations done and timing and scope are most important to you, well, then you should expect to give on the cost dimension and expect to pay for some rush fees. 

Customer C says, “I want something but I can’t really afford too much.”

The best advice here is that you should probably just do it yourself using any one of the great off the shelf tools like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, or Shopify (if you’re in E-commerce). There are lots of tools out there. If you’re just starting out and there are capital concerns and business risks (you’re not sure whether or not you’re going to make this a viable thing), it’s a good idea to start doing your first website by yourself.

This isn’t something a lot of web development or marketing companies are going to tell you, but it’s the truth.

Maybe it won’t be perfect, but when you’re just starting out, you should be spending more time selling than marketing anyway. But, in this example, the focus is on cost.

But again, what’s the next most important thing? 

If it’s getting it done quickly well then you should expect an off the shelf template with very, very few customizations. 

If it’s getting something that’s super cheap and super custom, you’ll be lucky if this project ever gets done because it’s not going to be a priority for anyone. 

This is probably why many of our customers come to us with websites that have been built by their cousin’s nephew’s brother’s son, who happens to know how to build websites. 

Generally speaking, if this is where you are then it’s going to have to get redone at some point and it’s probably going to take a while for it to get redone so my advice again is to start with something off the shelf or just be prepared for the reality that it’s going to take forever to get done–if your two variables are to keep it cheap and get everything. 

So, where do we fit in? 

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Solving for the Triangle: Unlimited Website Design 

With our Unlimited Plan, we try really hard to satisfy all three (scope, cost, time & speed) of these dimensions in different ways. 

Cost

For the budget-conscious, we have fixed scope websites and unlimited web design services that you can budget around. They start at around  $700 for a fixed scope website, or $199, a month for our unlimited plans. 

Time & Speed

For the time conscious we have our swipe file of over 100 Super Sites that are ready to be deployed and can be easily modified quickly by our team to suit your needs. 

Also when a site is live, our super support team is geared around fixing customer issues within one to two business days depending, of course, on the package and level of service. 

Scope & Quality

For those that need a custom solution often, we need to talk to you and learn which trade offs are most important to you and which dimensions matter the most. 

Generally speaking, our Unlimited Web Design service is really trying to be the coup de gras for this Trade-Off Triangle. By focusing on flat monthly rates, unlimited minor fixes and updates, unlimited new content, and unlimited functionality enhancements. 

That said, there’s trade offs as there are with everything;

• New pages typically take three to five days to turn around, 
• Revisions typically take two to four days so if you need something urgently, our Unlimited Web Design is probably not going to be a great fit. 
• Unless you’ve planned this out and you’ve worked with us to put together a plan so that we can meet your deadlines. 

Our unlimited web design is able to be really flexible because we control scope. At any given time we’re only working on one page or one project. And we have so many sites to start from so if the scope is the issue, and you need help selecting a template or a starting point and then having it customized, we’ve got a lot of options for you to choose from. 

There’s no perfect solution, including ours, but we are doing our best to try and get you there. 

If you have better things to do with your time than web design, check out our unlimited web design plan starting at just $199 a month. Just click the image below to get started.