Parkinson Owns Us
I think Parkinson's Law may be the most underrated idea in professional life. I can't help but feel that if it weren't named the way it was, like Murphy's Law, or The Peter Principle, somehow it would be known. Followed. Respected. Hallowed. FEARED. Dreaded.
Work expands to fill the time allotted to it. That's Parkinson's Law. Almost everyone I know follows it, me included, to our own detriment.
What does it mean, in lay terms? Simple: if you have an hour to get something done, it will take, oh, about an hour. Often a little less, sometimes a bit more. If you have something else to get done, but you only have 15 minutes, it's going to take you, oh, maybe 15 minutes.
Even if the two tasks are the exact same task.
Think about that. There's an implication there that our concept of a task is essentially inextricable from the time we have to do it. David Allen alludes to this obliquely by having a "Someday" category in his powerful Getting Things Done guidance.
Admit it. You're like me, and on the last work day before you started a vacation, you got a bunch of stuff done because you had to, and you only had a limited amount of time to do it.
Because, on that day, Parkinson did NOT rule you. You ruled yourself. You proved Horstman's Corollary To Parkinson's Law:
Work contracts to fit into the time we GIVE it.
I told myself I had to write this post in 15 minutes. I did. There's more to say, but I'm living with the deadline. 90% of you won't take action anyway even if I write for days.
Take less time. Let quality suffer. [I bet it won't, appreciably.] Get more done.
Rule yourself, lest ye be ruled.
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Planning on being one of the 10%
I am going to strive to be in the 10% who will act on this.
Which reminds me: I'm always
Which reminds me: I'm always on the look out for companies that don't operate on a 9-5 schedule. That is, for example, you're expected to be there from 9-2. And if you can get your work done and achieve your expected results by 2pm, then you'll be able to go home. And some days, you'll just find a way to get it done, because you'd really much rather go home by 2pm. Other days, you'll take your time, or you'll have more on your plate than usual, or you'll be working through a period where you're in crunch, so you'll stay on till 5.
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Rory
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Imagery
We all know atoms are made of a nucleus with encircling electrons, and most of the volume of an atom is actually empty space. To put this in perspective, if the nucleus of an atom was the size of a ping pong ball, the sphere of encircling electrons would be about the size on St. Peter's Basilica. I've also heard, if the nucleus is the size of a basketball, the electrons would be 20 miles away.
True or not, this is the imagery I use when thinking of Parkinson's Law. The ping pong ball is the erg of work which must be performed to meet the requirements. The basilica is the window of time that, left to their own devices, my directs are tempted to fill. Can I somehow compact the efforts of my directs? If I spend a little extra time clarifying my expectations, can I reduce that sphere to something the size of the Milan Cathedral? That would represent a tremendous increase in productivity!
Or turn it the other way around... if the basilica represents a 40-hour work week, how many ping pong balls can I put into it? Three? Maybe a handful of marbles too?
The theoretical limits to compacting the work are not infinite... but they're damn-near close.
vYour article has a lot of
vYour article has a lot of great information and it has really helped me with my paper for a class I am taking. Do you have any other posts about this topic? how to get thin legs
Ask a busy person
I loved this article. It's a truth that I've acknowledged for years. If you want something done ask a busy person. Busy people get things done.