Parkinson’s Law

Have you ever been given two weeks to complete something that probably required two hours?

Somehow, it still took two weeks.

You thought about it. Put it off. Started it. Revised it. Walked away from it. Came back and revised it again.

The work did not necessarily need all that time. It simply grew to fill the time you gave it.

That is Parkinson’s Law:

Work expands to fill the time available.

Longer deadlines can provide flexibility, but they can also create more room for delay, unnecessary revisions, and overthinking.

Sometimes the answer is not more time.

Sometimes the answer is a shorter deadline and fewer opportunities to mess with something that was already finished.