I recently came across a couple of laws by a writer called Cyril Parkinson. His book called Parkinson's law - The pursuit of progress presents a very interesting view of organisations. I have not read the myself, but it is on my to read list.
One of his laws says that - work essentially expands to fill the time available. This means that if you have a piece of work that is estimated to take say three weeks, then the work somehow expands and takes the full three weeks to complete. The estimated time to complete primarily determines the pace at which you approach the task. In addition, it also gives you the ability to multitask and allow for interruptions during work. This law is quite an important especially when you are managing projects and it has considerable managerial implications.
If say a PM subscribes to this view, then it unlikely that he or she will believe when a employee gives an estimate for his work or updates the status of his/her tasks. It is a fairly thin line for a PM to tread by.I know some people who live by this rule. At the extreme end living by such a rule can drive behaviors that will be seen as pushy or un-trusting.
The second law of Parkinson called the law of triviality is even more interesting. It is also sometimes called the bike shed effect. Parkinson says that when people are put together in a room and asked to decide about a trivial thing such as the color of a bike shed, they can spend inappropriate time arguing and discussing what color would best work for the bike shed! Committee based decision making typically falls under this category. Imagine sitting in a room and discussing the color of a bike shed! Does it sound familiar? It does to me, I've been part of several such things that have added no value whatsoever. It is either irrelevant or something that is completely beyond the sphere of control.
The reason I remembered this today is because I am going to pick up a bike this weekend. And yes, it is for me. I was wondering if anybody wants to suggest what color bike I should pick up? And what color should I paint my bike shed ? :)
-Sandeep Kowshik
One of his laws says that - work essentially expands to fill the time available. This means that if you have a piece of work that is estimated to take say three weeks, then the work somehow expands and takes the full three weeks to complete. The estimated time to complete primarily determines the pace at which you approach the task. In addition, it also gives you the ability to multitask and allow for interruptions during work. This law is quite an important especially when you are managing projects and it has considerable managerial implications.
If say a PM subscribes to this view, then it unlikely that he or she will believe when a employee gives an estimate for his work or updates the status of his/her tasks. It is a fairly thin line for a PM to tread by.I know some people who live by this rule. At the extreme end living by such a rule can drive behaviors that will be seen as pushy or un-trusting.
The second law of Parkinson called the law of triviality is even more interesting. It is also sometimes called the bike shed effect. Parkinson says that when people are put together in a room and asked to decide about a trivial thing such as the color of a bike shed, they can spend inappropriate time arguing and discussing what color would best work for the bike shed! Committee based decision making typically falls under this category. Imagine sitting in a room and discussing the color of a bike shed! Does it sound familiar? It does to me, I've been part of several such things that have added no value whatsoever. It is either irrelevant or something that is completely beyond the sphere of control.
The reason I remembered this today is because I am going to pick up a bike this weekend. And yes, it is for me. I was wondering if anybody wants to suggest what color bike I should pick up? And what color should I paint my bike shed ? :)
-Sandeep Kowshik
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