Friction Forces Choice

We say "you can have speed or quality, pick one."

What we mean is "our trust is so low that politics eat all our capacity."

We say "moving fast means breaking things."

What we mean is "we can't coordinate, so speed creates chaos."

We say "excellence requires process and oversight."

What we mean is "we don't trust people to make good decisions, so we control every decision."

The trade-off isn't between speed and excellence. It's between trust and friction.

High-friction systems force the choice. Every decision needs approval. Every approval needs a meeting. Every meeting needs prep. The overhead consumes the capacity. You can go fast and break things, or go slow and maybe not break things. Both options are bad.

High-trust systems eliminate the trade-off. Decisions happen where the information is. Information flows to where it's needed. Mistakes get caught and fixed fast. Speed and quality both improve.

The trade-off is real.

But it's not the trade-off you think it is.