Can we build software faster and better and cheaper?

"Faster, Better, Cheaper" (FBC) was a development philosophy adopted by the NASA administration in the mid to late 1990s. that lead to some some dramatic successes such as Mars Pathfinder as well as a number highly publicized mission failures, such as the Mars Climate Orbiter & Polar Lander. The general consensus on FBC was "Faster, Better, Cheaper? Pick any two". According to that view, is impossibly to optimize on all three criteria without compromising the third. This paper checks that view using an AI search tool called STAR. We show that FBC is indeed feasible and produces similar or better results when compared to other methods However, for FBC to work, there must be a balanced concern and concentration on the quality aspects of a project. If not, "FBC" becomes "CF" (cheaper and faster) with the inevitable lose in project quality.