Why "Quick and Dirty" Slows Teams Down
Everyone talks about speed. But cutting corners isn't fast—it's just messy. Here's how product teams can ship clean, useful solutions without wasting cycles or compromising quality.
👋 Hey, Sam here! Welcome back to The Product Trench. Every other Wednesday, I cut through the noise to share actionable insights, no-nonsense advice, and stories related to product management and leadership. Occasionally, I share hot takes on topics that get me fired up.
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I took a little break from writing these newsletters. Not burnout, not a crisis, just life being life and the need for a bit of stillness.
And honestly, sometimes the most productive thing a product manager or someone in a leadership role can do is step back. It's in that quiet, fewer meetings, less Slack noise, where the good thinking usually sneaks up. Not the retreat-in-the-woods kind of silence. Just the regular, unglamorous kind where your brain has space to breathe.
I didn't come back with some breakthrough framework or poetic clarity. Just a reminder: not everything worth sharing comes tied up in a bow. Some of the most valuable lessons come from the messy middle.
Which brings me to a phrase I've seen float through too many Slack threads lately: "quick and dirty" solutions.
Ever had someone ask for one? Maybe a sales opportunity popped up, or leadership wanted to jump on a new trend. Suddenly, the roadmap is out the window, and it's all about moving fast.
I hear this request at least once a quarter. And every time, I have to resist the urge to visibly cringe.
Not because I'm against speed, quite the opposite. But because "quick and dirty" fundamentally misunderstands what makes for effective product development.
The False Triangle
You've probably seen some version of the project management triangle: Good, Fast, Cheap-pick two.
Want it good and fast? It won't be cheap. Want it fast and cheap? It won't be good. Want it good and cheap? It won't be fast.
I'm just going to say it: this is complete BS.
This mindset creates a false choice that actually undermines what we're trying to accomplish. It assumes that cutting corners is the only way to move quickly, when the real solution is much simpler: ruthless prioritization.
Quick and Clear in Action
Let's break it down. Imagine a sales team comes running with a major opportunity but needs a feature that doesn't exist. Panic sets in. Everyone's talking about a quick and dirty solution to "just get something out there."
Before diving into build mode, step back and get clarity by asking:
What's the real problem? Not the request, but the actual job the customer is trying to do.
What's the smallest thing we could build that provides value?
What can we skip without breaking the experience?
How reversible is this decision? If we're wrong, how quickly can we fix it?
By getting clear on these answers, you can often find a path that's fast and effective without leaving a pile of tech debt or unhappy users.
Build With Clarity, Not Chaos
"Quick and dirty" implies we're knowingly creating technical debt or design flaws. "Quick and clear" means we're intentionally scoping to essentials. It's not about moving recklessly fast. It's about being surgical. And it's not just a cleaner way to build. It's how you avoid traps that slow teams down later.
Here's how to make the shift:
1. Scope like a minimalist
Strip away anything that doesn't directly solve the problem. If it's not mission-critical, it's noise.
🚀 Example: At my previous company, sales needed a reporting feature for a major prospect. Instead of building a full analytics dashboard (dirty approach), we created a focused export capability that addressed their specific need (clear approach). It took half the time and actually solved the exact problem.
2. Validate early and often
Get real feedback before overinvesting. Customers will always tell you what actually matters faster than an internal debate.
🚀 Example: Rather than rushing through a half-baked onboarding flow for a sales opportunity, we built just the first step properly. Once validated with the prospect, we added the second step. No technical debt, no design compromises—just intentional, incremental progress.
3. Don't confuse polish with progress
Fix what users will notice, not what makes you feel better about your craftsmanship.
🚀 Example: At a previous company in the fintech space, we had a merchant urgently ask for real-time balance visibility. Rather than spinning up a full-fledged account reconciliation suite, we scoped a lightweight endpoint that showed the latest balance snapshot with minimal delay. It shipped within days, was dead simple to maintain, and bought us time to build the full feature set without stress.
4. Make it reversible
Not every decision needs to be permanent. Build solutions that can evolve as you learn more.
🚀 Example: When rushing to meet a competitive threat, we designed our solution with modularity in mind. The first iteration was focused but complete, and when we learned more about user needs, we could swap components without rebuilding from scratch.
The Hidden Cost of "Dirty"
Here's the thing about "dirty" solutions: they're actually slow in disguise.
That quick hack to get the feature out? Someone's going to spend 3x longer fixing it later. Those design shortcuts? They'll create confusion that generates support tickets for months. That temporary workaround? It'll become so embedded that replacing it becomes a project of its own.
Knowing when something delivers enough value to ship is a skill. Similarly, building something quickly and cleanly comes from experience and discipline, not from throwing quality out the window.
The next time someone asks for "quick and dirty," try this: "What if we could do quick and clear instead?"
Then:
Get to the core need behind the request
Define the smallest scope that actually solves it
Build that one thing properly
Ship it, learn from it, and iterate
You'll be surprised how often this approach is faster than going "dirty" would have been, and without the cleanup headaches afterward.
Why Smart Scoping Beats the Triangle
The triple constraint isn't about picking which corner to sacrifice. It's about shrinking the entire triangle through smart scoping. You can have speed, quality, and cost control all at once when you're crystal clear about what matters.
Because what slows you down isn't taking the time to do things right. It's undoing the mess you didn't need to make in the first place. Quick and clear wins every time.
👋 And that’s a wrap folks. Thank you for reading.
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See you next time.
— Sam ✌️
Quick and dirty. The OG "MVP".