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L'ennemi du délai

English translation: Meeting deadlines by sacrificing added value is not the way to go

09:49 Sep 28, 2011
French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Business/Commerce (general)
French term or phrase: L'ennemi du délai
This is from a PPT presentation about Lean Management. I'm trying to phrase the following in a snappy way:

La non valeur ajoutée est l’ennemi du délai !!!

Right now, I have:

Zero added value is the enemy of on-time delivery!!!

Any better ideas?
Thanks!
Ysabel812
English translation:Meeting deadlines by sacrificing added value is not the way to go
Explanation:
my take

Sacrificing added value is no way to meet your deadlines
Selected response from:

polyglot45
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2Meeting deadlines by sacrificing added value is not the way to go
polyglot45
4... gets you nowhere fast
Carol Gullidge
4enemy of deadlines
cc in nyc
3delivery delays demonstrate there is no added value
Verginia Ophof
3Lack of added value is a deadline's / delivery date's worst enemy
Sarita Mardon


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
... gets you nowhere fast


Explanation:
OR ... is the enemy of productivity

depending on the register you're looking for

the délai aspect is contained in both of these expressions.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2011-09-28 10:09:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

fruitless faffing gets you nowhere fast (!!)

and, by "productivity", I mean "achieving a lot in a short time"

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:42
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 10

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: I can't help thinking you're perhaps reversing the intention here? Doesn't seem to me to be very logical this way round? / Exactly, I don't think it means that at all — see P/G's excellent answer for the way I read this too.
10 mins
  -> Going nowhere fast is a common expression for being very slow. In other words wasting time on side issues (= non valeur...)) delays the completion of the project//Excellent though it may be, I still don't think that is what the ST is actually saying!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Meeting deadlines by sacrificing added value is not the way to go


Explanation:
my take

Sacrificing added value is no way to meet your deadlines


polyglot45
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 88
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway
19 mins
agree  Tony M: Exactly!
1 hr
agree  Sandra & Kenneth Grossman: Maybe "sacrificing VA to save time". "Meeting deadlines" may be taking things to the extreme.
1 hr
  -> or even cutting corners.....
neutral  cc in nyc: What happened to the "non" in "non valeur"? // Really? I read "non valeur ajoutée" as additions to the original spec that don't add value, especially in the context of lean management. :-|
3 hrs
  -> that is clearly covered by "sacrificing"
disagree  Sarita Mardon: I think the statement means that you won't easily meet your deadlines if you sacrifice added value, rather than that it is a bad way of meeting them...
14 hrs
  -> think about a bit more and you may see my point
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
enemy of deadlines


Explanation:
Something like: "Feature-creep is the enemy of deadlines."

cc in nyc
Local time: 11:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 173
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
delivery delays demonstrate there is no added value


Explanation:
on-time delivery is an added value
In my opinion, this sentence needs to be turned around into a negative


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2011-09-28 16:56:18 GMT)
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not meeting deadlines sacrifices added value

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2011-09-28 16:59:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

not meeting delivery times sacrifices added value
Delay of delivery times is the enemy of added value

Verginia Ophof
Belize
Local time: 09:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 48
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Lack of added value is a deadline's / delivery date's worst enemy


Explanation:
It think your original answer is a good translation and has understood the meaning well. Otherwise the above could be an alternative.

Sarita Mardon
Local time: 17:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 8
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