Ken surmises:
 >>Triangles can provide a too easy over-simplification of complex 
issues.<<

Of course, these are highly complex issues. I need the triangle 
simplification to help me ease my simple mind into all the 
complications, and understand one of many complexities while keeping the 
big picture in mind. The triangle is not the whole issue, it is the road 
sign, leading the way: curves ahead, falling rocks, don't run down the 
children, entering New Jersey the garden state, rest stop ahead, scenic 
view. So far, I've introduced about 20 people to these ideas with the 
Good/Fast/Cheap triangle. Within just a few minutes 5 of them had an "ah 
haa" experience and immediately started making a fundamentally different 
kind of decision, one that gave the window job to the restorer instead 
of the pirate, one that got them over to meet a "new" neighbor who moved 
in 11 months ago, etc.

 >>we stumbled over the cost:quality:time
triangle... same as the good-fast-cheap... without a beat of hesitation
he said, and 'style'... Examples of style: the value of the story, the 
fun of the adventure, the intangible value-added, the smile at the end.<<

Yep, style is right up there at the top of the triangle, next to Good. 
As you say, "value, fun, smile" all intangibles (opposite of Things on 
the triangle) that cannot be measured in dollars, they take time to tell 
and hear the story, it takes time to go on the adventure (touch Slow on 
the triangle). I'm not talking about "clock" time here (clock time 
happens on the FastThingsCheap line. I'm talking about "event" time, 
which happens in the CheapRelationshipsGood realm. You know, when you're 
listening to a good story you loose track of time? You loose track of 
"clock time" because the story happens in "event time."

This difference between clock time and event time is one of the big 
difficulties of some independent tradespeople who have their own 
businesses. The trade activities, say glazing a window or cleaning the 
mortar off a pile of bricks, happens in event time, where all the best 
trades work occurs. But, to do business and get paid clock time is 
needed. It is impossible to be in event time and clock time at the same 
time. Some can make the time shift easily, back and forth, several times 
a day. Some can't. You know, the tradesperson who is happy hand-planing 
boards all day long, day after day? He measures his life in stacks of 
boards completed, or in days of hand planing--both measurements of event 
time.

How does the difference between clock time and event time fit into 
preservation estimating?

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