Parkinson's law of triviality, also known as bikeshedding or the bicycle-shed example, is C. Northcote Parkinson's 1957 argument that organizations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues. Parkinson demonstrated this by contrasting the triviality of the cost of building a bike shed to an atomic reactor. The law has been applied to software development and other activities.
Read more about Parkinson's Law Of Triviality: Argument, When Governance Meetings Devolve Into Two-cents' Worth, Related Principles and Formulations
Famous quotes containing the words parkinson, law and/or triviality:
“The Law of Triviality ... briefly stated, it means that the time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.”
—C. Northcote Parkinson (19091993)
“Listen, little boy. In this business, theres only one law you gotta follow to keep outta trouble. Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doin it.”
—Ben Hecht (18931964)
“nor till the poets among us can be literalists of the imaginationMabove insolence and triviality and can present
for inspection, imaginary gardens with real toads in them, shall we have
it.”
—Marianne Moore (18871972)