The Cost of Hurry: How Speed Undermines Project Quality

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the dangers of prioritizing speed over strategy in project management. He says that being agile means adapting and learning quickly, not rushing in blindly. Urgency often leads to missed plans, poor decisions, and costly rework. Teams suffer under pressure, and when delays happen, they are unfairly blamed. Ricardo argues that a slower, more thoughtful start—with proper planning and stakeholder engagement—can accelerate long-term progress. He encourages leaders to educate stakeholders on the difference between rushing and smart acceleration. A realistic schedule is not a delay, but an investment in sustainable success.

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Episode transcript

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Hello, everyone. Here is Ricardo Vargas, and this is the 5 Minutes Podcast. Today I want to talk about something that has bothered me for a long time. Our obsession with speed in projects. We live in a world where everything needs to be done yesterday, and that pressure shows up in how we lead and execute our projects. But does all this urgency actually speed up the results, or are we just rushing only to go back and redo things later? Being agile is one thing. Being in a hurry is something else entirely. Agility is about adapting, learning quickly, and improving continuously. Hurry, on the other hand, skips over risks, crushes planning, and turns strategic decisions into impulsive reactions. And the result? The result is only one rework. And rework is expensive. Really expensive, probably the most expensive way of learning when you make mistakes. Every bad decision made early on, because there wasn't time to think it through, comes back later as corrections, delays, and frustration, and not to mention the two own teams who feel pressured and undervalued when the only focus is speed and not quality. Often, going slow in the beginning, understanding the problem, listening to stakeholders, and building a solid plan make the project move much faster later. This is like the saying goes, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. In projects, that smooth path is what delivers sustainable value, not just an empty sprint. I've seen projects that had everything going for them fall apart, simply because someone at the top decided to cut the timeline in half. And the irony is that when the project falls behind, which it often does, the blame lands on the team, not on those who rushed it. That's why we need the courage to say waiting one more week might save three months of work. We also need to show data and real examples that prove that a realistic schedule is an investment, and it's not a delay. It's much better to align expectations upfront than to spend weeks managing frustrations later on. Our role as project leaders is to educate stakeholders on this, to show them that rushing is not the same as accelerating, and that the best path isn't always the fastest, but the most solid. And always remember, rushing may look like efficiency, but often it's just the fastest way to rework. Think about that. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and no rush. I'll see you next week with another 5 Minutes Podcast.

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