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Parkinson’s Law in Project Management
I believe in Parkinson’s Law and its applicability in my work and personal life.
What is Parkinson’s Law?
Derived from the first sentence in an article published by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in The Economist in November 1955, Parkinson’s Law has become a well-known saying.
The article was a humorous essay about the rate at which bureaucracy expands over time. However, the first sentence is what has been the subject of many further thoughts and works.
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
The first-referenced meaning of the Law has dominated and sprouted several works, the best known being the Stock–Sanford summary of Parkinson’s Law:
“If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.”
Other summaries include Horstman’s view of Parkinson’s Law:
“Work contracts to fit in the time we give it.”
And Asimov paraphrased Parkinson’s Law as:
“In ten hours a day you have time to fall twice as far behind your commitments as in five hours a day.”
There are also many summaries relating to computers, such as:
