Nick Welsh | Mono Industries Graphic Design & Internet Design Cambridge | UK

I came across Russell Davies*, (strategist, futurist, blogger & gadget maker - his words, not mine) after last years Do Lectures that Howies put on. Russell was talking, amongst other things, about failing. It’s a subject close to my heart (I’ve had lots of practice). I may blog about that here another time but for now, I wanted to pick up on something that Russell spoke about in his lecture and that’s Good, Fast & Cheap.

The idea is that as a producer (of anything really), you can only supply 2 of these 3 things. If you come to me and ask me to create a web site for you, it might be good and fast but it won’t be cheap. Conversely, if you want it quickly and cheaply, it might not be very good and if you want it to be good and cheap, it might take a little longer to produce than usual.

You can use this for anything really, from cooking a meal to making a film, from designing a car to organising an arts festival. I really like it. As someone who deals with clients who are constantly demanding things to be better, faster and cheaper, it’s a useful little tool to remind them gently that actually, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

To see all of Russell's lecture, please click here. (* Not to be confused with Russell T Davies who used to write Dr. Who and who is a completely different person).

This post first appeared here.

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Here's a great post from Tim Ferriss' blog about how not to use a lawyer. Tim writes a blog called 'Experiments In Lifestyle Design' which always has interesting stuff on it but I was particularly interested in this post.

I was struck by how this advice could be used in many areas of working life, not just when engaging legal services. Thanks Tim. BTW - I first came across Tim via the Howies DO Lectures. This is a link to his talk.

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The Howies 'Do' Lectures are currently being held in Cardigan Bay, Wales. I didn't get my act together in time to apply this year (gutted), but my good friend Wilf is there and I've instructed him on pain of death to make notes, take photos and to report back on all the good stuff. I'm also following an attendee via Twitter.

Howies are a very interesting company. On a very base level, they're a clothing company with an emphasis on the outdoors; skate wear, cycle wear, surf wear, beach wear etc etc. But they've always had a knack of communicating their company philosophy in a very easy way, something which I don't think is neccessarily an easy thing to do.

For example, they're big on the environment. Now lots of companies say that they're big on the environment but not many actually put their money where there mouths are. Howies have an Earth Tax which means they pledge to give 1% of their turnover or 10% of pre-tax profits (whichever is greater) to grass-roots environmental and social projects. It's this Earth Tax that has paid for the 'Do' Lectures as all 75 places are offered up for free.

Their catalogues not only show off their clothes but they have short essays, poems, illustrations and other musings which all reinforce the company philosophy. Speaking personally, I'd say that I'm more interested in this side of their business than I am in their clothes. A great example of a small business doing things a little differently. Shame there aren't a few more like them out there.

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