Increase Your Productivity by Reverse Engineering Parkinson’s Law
The time management secret hidden in plain sight
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
-Parkinson’s law (Cyril Northcote Parkinson)
For over a decade, I’ve had this quote printed on a strip of paper and taped to my computer screen, reminding me that I don’t need to work after hours (and by “me” I mean my boss).
The Story
Cyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author. He published dozens of books, including his best-seller Parkinson’s Law, in which Parkinson shared with the world his most famous words “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”, a Law that made him an authority in public administration and management.
When it was first published in the 1950s, this law explained through a mathematical equation how bureaucracies expand over time:
Basically, Bureaucracy (x) equals 2 times Greed (K) raised to the power of Laziness (m), plus Soul-Crushing Labor Years (P), all divided by God Knows What Actually Got Done (n).
