Key takeaways
A task will take as long as you allow it to.
Tight but realistic limits keep scope and effort in check.
Origins
C. Northcote Parkinson stated the law in the first sentence of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955. He drew on his years in the British civil service, and the essay was reprinted in his 1958 book Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress. Although he was describing bureaucracy, the line has become a general rule about time and effort.
In practice
- Set short deadlines for design reviews, and timebox research.
- Break projects into small milestones, each with its own date.
- Define what “done” means before starting, so that the work doesn’t keep growing.
Further reading
- Parkinson’s Law on Wikipedia — Wikipedia
- Parkinson’s Law: Why Constraints Are The Best Thing You Can Work With — Louis Chew | Medium.com
- Parkinson’s Law on Laws of UX — Jon Yablonski
The illustration is our own, drawn after the idea of this law’s card in Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski.
