Parkinson's Law applied to Project Management

Cyril Northcote Parkinson posits in a 1995 essay for The Economist that, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” He went on to provide a mathematical equation that was used to show the rate at which bureaucracies bloat over time. (I love Wikipedia..) What is the implication for completion times of project tasks? Assume that a particular task estimated to take 7 days actually is completed in four days, does the performer deliver it to the next resource person? Not likely. Because the time estimates given are negotiated numbers, reporting an early finish of a task means that future estimate given by the project worker will be trimmed by the manager. To avoid this possibility, rather than report early task completion, the worker is likely to spend the extra time performing checks and adding nice to have "bells and whistles" not strictly required by the specifications. Result? Extra time gained is wasted. The key here is to be aware of this phenomenon and guard against it by getting early completions identified, taking advantage of the resulting schedule slack.

Optimism is a Strategy

"Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there will be no hope. If you assume there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours." - Noam Chomsky

My coach, Tony Mayo, shared this quote that made an impression on me when I read it but has become even more poigniant as our current economic catastrophe unfolds. Albeit easy to slip into Pollyanna territory, as is my typical wont, there is some validity to keeping a positive perspective as a guiding light through the pall of this financial chaos. I see it not as turning a blind eye toward reality but simply coloring in one's perspective, remaining focused and as a result getting through. We could choose to waste our time wringing our hands offering no effort to improve our results. However, with a collective optimistic focus, we spend our limited bandwidth creating a better future.