A shortcut is only a shortcut if you never have to come back and fix it.

Time saved is not saved until the job stays done. Skipping a step moves the cost into the future rather than removing it, and the future version usually costs more, because the problem has had time to spread and you have lost the context. That is the whole test: measure the route by the total, not by the first leg. Quick and wrong is slow with extra steps.

Before you skip something, ask what happens if you are wrong about being able to skip it. If the answer involves redoing the work, take the slow path now. Keep track for a month of which shortcuts actually held.