Rethinking value in TRM terms

Some things we value don’t look like time, risk or money at first. Here is how I put them in those terms.

Quality

Quality is vague, but it is real value, and it covers all three pillars at once. As quality drops, the business loses time fixing it, money in lost revenue, and takes on risk as customers and staff leave. As quality rises, though, the cost of raising it further grows exponentially.

Entertainment

When we say we’re entertained, we mean we feel something. A good movie gives us the feelings we want several times over. We can entertain ourselves, but entertainment is a shortcut: it gets us to those feelings faster. That is time.

Design

Like entertainment, good design is time. The jeans we buy are about how quickly we want to feel a certain way, or have others see us a certain way. A website’s design is about how quickly it reads as well-funded, modern or premium. Time applies to function too. A good, consistent site design makes it easier, and faster, for a visitor to find their way around. And jeans with a zipper are far faster than buttons. Who thinks buttons are better when you really need to go?

Your turn

What else is hard to put in TRM terms? Get in touch. I’d love to think through more examples.