Parkinson’s Law
“Work expands as to
fill the time available for its completion”- Cyril Parkinson
I agree that a task will swell to fill the time. I also believe that this is true mostly
because of believed complexity and perceived difficulty depending and upon the
amount of time that you allocate to the task.
Let’s drill down into these.
Complexity is interesting.
When I say complexity what I am saying is something that might not be
very difficult but require many steps to complete. If it requires you to do 20 steps to get to
the end, the goal is complex because you have to go through 20 hurdles to get
it done. Each one of the steps might be
quick and easy but without all 20 the task does not get completed.
Similarly, perceived difficulty is in the eye of the
beholder. If I believe that something is
difficult for me to accomplish then I have already created a wall I have to
really want to jump over. However, just
because I believe it to be difficult does not make it difficult for
others. There are adults that do not
know how to ride a bike.
I can see the wisdom in Parkinson’s statement. Work will expand to fill the time
available. Sometimes complexity or level
of difficulty is not even an issue. If I
get up early and have three hours to kill before I have to leave home then
guess what? I will find something to
fill those three hours. It might not be
very productive but it will fill the time available.
Today’s question is:
“What can you do not
to fall into Parkinson’s trap?”
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