Podcast episode 046: schedule killers – parkinson’s law

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Today we continue our series on Schedule Killers – those tendencies and traits of project teams that cause us to miss our deadlines!  Last episode we discussed “The Student Syndrome,” which is defined as “the phenomenon that many people will start to fully apply themselves to a task just at the last possible moment before a deadline.”   Today we talk about “Parkinson’s Law.”

What is Parkinson’s Law?

Parkinson’s Law, as it is known today, started as the first sentence of an essay that Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote for The Economist in 1955.  Parkinson was a British naval historian, public administration scholar, and author of over sixty books.  Parkinson’s claim that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” later was expanded to include how work expands in bureaucracies in his bestselling 1957 book, Parkinson’s Law.

Parkinson’s Law is also often expressed as “The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource,” although the reverse is not true.

I personally like to think of Parkinson’s Law as the “Ideal Gas Law” for projects.  No, I am not referring to the hot air that some project managers are famous for expelling.  But rather, if you think of the amount of work required to complete a task as a set number of gas molecules inside a sealed container, the gas would still fill the container if you were to make the container bigger.  Only the distance between the work molecules would be greater and there would be less pressure inside of the container.  However, if you were to reduce the size of the container or if someone were to apply “heat” to the system, the pressure would increase.  But if less “heat” were applied or if the container was allowed to grow, the volume of work would still expand to completely fill the container.

So, what Parkinson’s Law states is that if you were to think of the size of a project task duration to be the analogy of a gas-filled container and you were able to successfully complete the work in 2 weeks, that same work would expand to fill 4 weeks if the task duration was expanded.

So, if a team member finishes the required work in 2 weeks, they will typically keep the working on the task until it is absolutely required for them to turn their work deliverable over.  If they are given even more time to complete a task, they will still take the entire time allocated to them.

The reason why this is a problem is because any “buffer” added to the individual task to protect the project end date is wasted by the effects of Parkinson’s Law extending individual task durations.

Why Does Parkinson’s Law Occur?

So why do people want to hang on to their work anyway?  You would think people would want to “get it off their desk” and start working on the next task, just like someone would with a “to do” list.  There are actually several reasons why Parkinson’s Law occurs.

1.)   People want to make their deliverable as good as possible. Unfortunately, people often equate this to improving the deliverable’s quality through adding additional features or performance even if it surpasses the task deliverable requirements.  Sometimes this is referred to “gold plating” or “polishing the apple.”  It has been shown that often times true quality is compromised.  A simple example is a presentation that someone continues to make “pretty” by adding a lot of extraneous graphics, colors, animations, and text that takes additional editing time and only serves to detract from the quality of the original presentation’s message.

2.)   People are afraid of turning in their work early.  Team members may feel that if they turn in their work early, a new benchmark for future work will be established.  However, there is a fallacy to this logic.  By their very definition, every project is unique.  They contain unique  deliverables, tasks, and team member skills.  Therefore, assuming each task duration can be effectively transferred from one project to another or from one resource to another is incorrect.

3.)   The resource assigned to the next task is not available.  If the person to accept my task deliverable is not ready or available, why should I turn over my deliverable for reasons #1 and #2 above?  Frequently if a receiving resource is delayed the previously task is extended.

How to Cure Parkinson’s Law

So how do we change this behavior on our own project teams?  I have some “prescriptions” for you to use to help cure Parkinson’s Law on your project.

1.)    Create a sense of urgency on your team:

• Use aggressive dates for initial task planning.  Use 3-point estimation and “Best Case” dates for your initial plan.  Use any additional task “buffer” to protect the project end date at the end of the project rather than making it easily available to use up at the end of any particular task.
• Encourage team members to turn in their task deliverables as soon as possible rather than wait until it is due.
• Track task progress by focusing on the amount left to do on a task rather an tracking when the task deliverable is due.

2.)   Make sure that the resource on the next task is available as soon as the preceding task is done.

3.)   Use a WBS Dictionary to clearly define requirements of each WBS deliverable to help reduce the chances of gold plating by resources.

Summary

So let’s summarize,

1. Parkinson’s law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
2. This is a problem because any project buffer is eliminated by extending individual task durations.
3. Team members become afflicted with Parkinson’s Law for several reasons:
   1. People want to make their deliverable as good as possible
   2. People are afraid of turning in their work early
   3. The next task resource is not ready
   4. Create a sense of urgency
   5. Use aggressive dates for initial task planning
   6. Encourage team members to turn in deliverables as soon as possible
   7. Focus on amount of work left rather than due dates
   8. Make sure receiving team member is available
   9. Use a WBS Dictionary to clearly define requirements of each WBS deliverable to reduce chances of Gold Plating
4. Fortunately there are several prescribed solutions to Parkinson’s Law:
   1. Create a sense of urgency
   2. Use aggressive dates for initial task planning
   3. Encourage team members to turn in deliverables as soon as possible
   4. Focus on amount of work left rather than due dates
   5. Make sure receiving team member is available
   6. Use a WBS Dictionary to clearly define requirements of each WBS deliverable to reduce chances of Gold Plating
5. Use these methods to help eliminate this Schedule Killer and you will find that your projects will begin to become more predictable and protected from unplanned events.

Next time we will talk about another Schedule Killer called “Bad Multitasking” and ways you can prevent its effects from hurting your team.

So what suggestions do you have to overcome Parkinson’s Law on your project?  Please leave us a comment below and let us know!

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Tags: behaviors, parkinson's law, schedule killers, Teams