In our industrial economy, it seems efficiency is regularly sparring with quality.
Let’s look at our contestants.
Efficiency focuses on production. Quality focuses on value.
Efficiency’s priority is what is best for those who deliver. Quality’s is what’s best for those being served.
Efficiency emphasizes doing things faster and cheaper. Quality emphasizes doing the right things right.
Who’s our winner?
You tell me.
Would you rather be known for being fast and mediocre, or detailed and valuable? Seems a no-brainer.
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Neal Woodson 
Neil, I see this less as a competition and more as a question of alignment.
Efficiency and quality only conflict when efficiency is defined as speed and cost alone. In a well-designed system, efficiency should enable quality—by removing friction and allowing people to do the right things well.
The issue is that many organizations optimize for internal convenience rather than customer outcomes. That’s where quality begins to erode.
From a CX perspective, quality is what the customer experiences and remembers. Efficiency only matters if it contributes to that outcome.
So the goal isn’t necessarily choosing between the two—it’s being reliably valuable, where efficiency and quality work together by design.
Great insights, Karl. My reference to efficiency was speaking more directly to the “speed and cost alone” definition. You are very right when you say the two (efficiency and quality) can work together but they can only create real value when when the collaboration is for the benefit of successful customer outcomes. Thank you for your input.
This is the ultimate balancing act in ERP. If you’re choosing between “fast” and “detailed,” you’ve already lost.
In the mid-market, “efficiency” without quality is just Technical Debt moving at high speed. You might go live “fast,” but if the data integrity isn’t there, you’re just accelerating your way into a ditch.
On the flip side, “quality” without efficiency is how you end up in a 2-year Discovery Loop with a System Integrator who is “detailing” you into bankruptcy with billable hours.
The real winner? Architectural Honesty.
When you lead with a clear Technical Design Document (TDD) and lean on Agile delivery, efficiency and quality stop sparring and start working together. You get “the right things right” because you built a blueprint first, not because you ran a marathon.
Speed to Value isn’t about being “fast and mediocre”—it’s about being so precise that you don’t have to do it twice.
Great insights, Sarah. I agree it is about balance. Yes, you can be efficient and have quality. My main thesis here is that too many have gone for efficiency at the expense of quality. They are ignoring customers by doing it. They assume people will take what they get. It’s arrogant. You hit the nail on the head though. With careful planning and thoughtful design, efficiency and quality can “stop sparring and start working together.”