Time 11 - Parkinson's Law

You may have noticed when completing tasks that it amounts to the time you are given. If you have three hours to write three articles in an exam or three hours to write one article, it will take you all three hours to finish that task. This theory is called Parkinson’s law. Cyril Northcote Parkinson first coined it in an essay for The Economist in 1955. In his essay, he refers to a woman writing a postcard, a task that would take the average person 10 minutes; instead, this woman manages to drag the job out to become her day's work. She spends so long choosing the postcard, writing out her message, walking to the postbox and so on that this ordinary task takes much longer than it needs to.

Besides the obvious fact that the work can become increasingly complex, procrastination is a crucial element of Parkinson’s law. Knowing that you have more time to finish something will inspire you to allow yourself to leave the work until the very last moment. However, simply knowing that the theory exists will not help you overcome it. The best way to do this is to sit down at the beginning of every project and write an outline for how you will approach the job. Setting smaller deadlines within a large project will help you stay on track and not leave everything until the last moment. So beginning any project by making it into smaller bite-sized chunks and then placing harsh deadlines on them is a beneficial way of not procrastinating. Another tip is that for projects with more than one person involved, ensure everyone has a clear and defined role. Do not let anyone not put in a fair share of effort. Finally, understanding what can be achieved in your time is crucial. Parkinson's law states that a workload expands to fill the allotted time, but knowledge from the offset of what can and cannot be done will help to mitigate this.