3. “…work expands so as to fill the
time available for its
completion.”
- C. Northcote
Parkinson
“Parkinson’s Law”
The Economist, 1955
4. Definition
"The time spent on any item of the agenda will
be in inverse proportion to the sum [of money]
involved.“
5. Fort Calhoun
Nuclear Reactor
660 acres
484 MW
600,000 -800,000 pounds of nuclear waste on site
Population within 50 miles: 953,410 people
$180 million just to recommission after 2011 floo
6. Waltons Tongue And
Groove Apex Wooden Bike
Shed
7’ x 3’
Factory Dip Treated
10mm Solid Sheet Board
Floor
10 year anti-rot
guarantee
7. Joint Welfare Committee’s 3-Item Agenda:
1.Signing of a £10 million contract to
build a reactor
2.Proposal to build a £350 bicycle shed
for the clerical staff
3.£21 a year to supply refreshments for
the Joint Welfare Committee.
Time Taken:
The reactor - 2.5 minutes.
The bike shed - 45 minutes.
The coffee - 75 minutes and no actual
8. Why Does It Exist?
I Don’t Know
I Don’t
Understand
Someone Must
Have Validated
This
I Must Not
Look Dumb
I Know
I Understand
I Want To
Matter
I Must Prove
My Worth
10. "The really, really short answer
is that you should not. The
somewhat longer answer is that
just because you are capable of
building a bikeshed does not
mean you should stop others from
building one just because you do
not like the color they plan to
paint it… Some people have
commented that the amount of
noise generated by a change is
inversely proportional to the
complexity of the change.“
- Poul Henning Kamp
FreeBSD Mailing List,
11. Can you maybe
make it more …
swoopy?
And it needs to be
a more dynamic
blue.
12. What Can I Do About It? The Legit
Way
Design Studio with the Client
13. What Can I Do About It? The Legit
Way
Objective UX Subjective UX
14. What Can I Do About It? The
Sneaky Way
The Duck Method
The £10 million number is too big and too technical, and it passes in two and a half minutes.
Mr Softleigh: “An aluminium roof is too expensive and we should use asbestos.” Mr Holdfast: “I want galvanised iron.” Mr Daring: “I question the need for the shed at all.”Mr Holdfast: “I disagree”.
"The debate is fairly launched. A sum of £350 is well within everybody's comprehension. Everyone can visualise a bicycle shed. Discussion goes on, therefore, for forty-five minutes, with the possible result of saving some £50. Members at length sit back with a feeling of accomplishment."
"There may be members of the committee who might fail to distinguish between asbestos and galvanised iron, but every man there knows about coffee – what it is, how it should be made, where it should be bought – and whether indeed it should be bought at all. This item on the agenda will occupy the members for an hour and a quarter, and they will end by asking the secretary to procure further information, leaving the matter to be decided at the next meeting."