The Goldilocks strategy: Finding 'Just Right' in Good, Fast, and Cheap

Picture this: it's a Tuesday afternoon. You are called into a meeting room by your teamlead. He's conversing with a client about a big new project they want to develop. After a bit of an introduction about the scope and features of the project, a very unrealistic deadline is proposed. Not only that, but you know from the past that this client has the reputation of having a very limited budget, so the amount of people that would work on the project would be a skeleton crew.