Written by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson’s law is a book that originally aimed to demonstrate the adage that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. Its origin can be exemplified in these corollaries cited on Wikipedia:
The first-referenced meaning of the law has dominated, and sprouted several corollaries, the best known being the Stock–Sanford corollary to Parkinson’s law: If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.
Other corollaries include Horstman’s corollary to Parkinson’s law: Work contracts to fit in the time we give it.
as well as corollaries relating to computers, such as: Data expands to fill the space available for storage.
However, the law is more commonly understood as “the self-satisfying uncontrolled growth of the bureaucratic apparatus in an organization”. Notably, Parkinson himself applied it to large organizations and companies, and their construction of their large headquarters buildings, in the following phrase:
Continue reading “Parkinson’s Law – What It Is, And How It Applies Today”
