No, personally I do not believe it is ever okay to shorten time frames if it means risk will be increased. In the simulation there was an option to shorten testing, and it was all luck that the FDA over looked the testing periods. Realistically, if the FDA was doing their job properly then they would have questioned the periods of observation. A simple google search will show that full bone growth takes longer than 4 weeks to be completed. Sure, if you chose the option to cut the 8 and 16 week observations it ended up successful, but this was a mini-sim. This assignment was created to give you an overview of what being a PM is like. In the real world one is less likely to get away with taking shortcuts. I believe that the more work you do now the less you have to do later. Therefore, it is never worth taking a shortcut because sooner or later you are bound to get caught. In the medical field where people’s livelihoods are at risks it is definitely not worth cutting time due to a rise in risk. If a shortcut is taken, and a customer gets hurt it is possible that the company will be sued; which would make the shortcut even less worth the time it saved. In conclusion, no saving time is not worth it if the consequence is a higher project risk.