Reflection · · 4 min
Parkinson's Law in Reverse: Garbage Collecting My Work Before a Team Change
“It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” That’s the first sentence of C. Northcote Parkinson’s essay in The Economist, November 1955, better known as Parkinson’s law. His example is an “elderly lady of leisure” who spends a whole day sending one postcard to her niece at Bognor Regis, a job a busy man would finish in three minutes. Fun fact: that sentence isn’t even the law. The rest of the essay is about why government offices keep growing, with rules like “Officials make work for each other.” I never needed an official. I made work for myself just fine. ...