Cyril Northcote Parkinson once noted – “It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Quite clearly, this simple statement became known as Parkinson’s Law. The central thesis of this ‘law’ is that if you want a job done quickly, set a deadline. But is Parkinson’s […]

Cyril Northcote Parkinson once noted – “It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Quite clearly, this simple statement became known as Parkinson’s Law. The central thesis of this ‘law’ is that if you want a job done quickly, set a deadline. But is Parkinson’s law true, or is it just a clever string of words? Answering that question, The Economist notes – “In fact, studies in the decades since Parkinson wrote his essay have shown it has some merit. In the 1960s, researchers showed that when subjects were “accidentally” given extra time to complete a task, the task took longer to complete. In another set of studies from 1999, subjects were asked to evaluate four sets of photos. When they were told the fourth set was cancelled, they spent more time “dallying” on the third rather than just finishing the task more…