Parkinsons Law
by C. Northcote Parkinson · first published 1986
16mentions
4recommended by
16HN commenters
2009–2025first – last mentioned
25% recommend75% neutral
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When I was 11 or 12, my father gave me a copy of “Parkinsons Law” (https://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-Pursuit-Progress-Busin...), explaining that this is the most important book on management I will ever read. I found it super entertaining. When I left Google…
on “How to Get Promoted” ↗…100MB*10b/10Mbps = 100 s. P.S. just read OP's expansion on problem. I would recommend reading C.N.Parkinson's take on candidate search (ch. 5 of the Parkinson's Law book, e.g. http://www.02articles.com/read/parkinsons-law-chapter-5 ). If it does not actually help, at least you'll be amused. P.P.S. searching for the above link, found this also amusing testimonial from a satisfied user: http://direkobold.blogspot.com/2009/04/parkinsons-law-for-hi...
on “How long will it take to download a 100 Megabyte file over 10 megabit/s conn.?” ↗Parkinson's Law may be the greatest business book of all time. If you like business books and you haven't read it you're missing out on one of the true classics of the genre. http://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-C-Northcote-Parkinson/d...
on “Parkinson's law of triviality” ↗C Northcote Parkinson wrote more books on how economics works. They're well worth reading. https://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-C-Northcote-Parkinson/... https://www.amazon.com/Law-Profits-Cyril-Northcote-Parkinson... In-Laws & Outlaws (not on Amazon)
on “Parkinson's Law: It’s real, so use it” ↗…is one of Parkinson’s Laws: "perfection of planned layout is only achieved by institutions on the point of collapse." In the chapter "Plans and Plants" of "Parkinson's Law" (see http://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-Cyril-Northcote-Parkins... ) he makes the point that "During a period of exciting discovery or progress there is no time to plan the perfect headquarters. The time for that comes later, when all the…
on “The Curse of a New Building” ↗…i'm especially productive when i've got a lot of stuff that NEEDS to be done, but when i've only got stuff that i'd like to get done but doesnt really matter i dont get anything done. I suppose its a Parkinsons Law type thing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law
on “Those Easy Days With Nothing Due...” ↗…skill tend to latch on to the little things they do understand and want to meddle with them endlessly. This is the "Bike Shed Principle" or Parkinson's Law of Triviality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsons_Law_of_Triviality)
on “A favicon? That’ll be £585 please.” ↗The book Peopleware condemns Parkinsons Law as unproven. The problem with Parkinson's Law is that management also knows it, so they think they can constrict their deadlines a lot and the work will get done, and if its not, they can pressure you…
on “A nation of slaves” ↗https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parkinsons-Law-Pursuit-Progress-Bus...
on “Why is modern web development so complicated?” ↗There's actually a name for what you're trying to describe in this post. It's called Parkinson's Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsons_Law), and it states that "work expands to fill the time available." I'm not sure if you're trying to be self deprecating with that "overly simplified graph" line. Either way, I wouldn't panic about it too…
on “Deadlines keep you ALIVE - a blog post” ↗Yes, that comes from an essay written in 1955 by Parkinson: http://doc.cat-v.org/economics/parkinsons-law/the-economist-... What we have to note is that the 2,000 Admiralty officials of 1914 had become the 3,569 of 1928; and that this growth was unrelated to any possible increase in their work. The Navy…
on “Intel's disruption is now complete” ↗I think its great that combustion engines are banned since they pollute a lot! Yes its named Parkinsons law. Parkinson noticed that the number of ships in the english army was decreasing but the number of administrators administrating the ships were increasing. Government officials hire more officials which…
on “Oakland bans the use of combustion engine-powered leaf blowers and trimmers” ↗This is called Parkinson's Law: https://www.economist.com/news/1955/11/19/parkinsons-law "To comprehend Factor I, we must picture a civil servant called A who finds himself overworked. Whether this overwork is real or imaginary is immaterial; but we should observe, in passing, that A’s sensation…
on “Bayer is getting rid of bosses and asking staff to ‘self-organize’” ↗…(aka _The Systems Bible_) is a great read on the topic, surpassing even Parkinson's essays (and as easy to read) https://www.amazon.com/Systems-Bible-Beginners-Guide-Large/d... https://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-C-Northcote-Parkinson-...
on “State Department issues immediate, widespread pause on foreign aid” ↗If you read Parkinsons Law you will discover the Law Of Multiplication of Subordinates. This is the little known law compared to the one about work filling the time, etc. He shows that between 1914 and 1928 the number of ships…
on “SurveyMonkey to Lay Off 100 and Retool Business Product” ↗