Parkinson’s law of triviality states that
Organizations give disproportionate attention to trivial issues, i.e. the more trivial the issue – the more time will be spent discussing it
This could, possibly, be described using the 20/80 rule as follows:
80% of the organization’s attention is given to issues that represent only 20% of the organization’s locked value.
Think about it!
Juran would spin in is grave…
It should be that 80% of the value comes from 20% of the actions but in this upside down world we get the exact opposite.
Patrick Richard recently posted..Project management podcasts and blogs I recommend
Pat, I studies about Vilfredo Pareto while doing my bachelor degree in economics and was only introduced to Juran’s extension of Pareto’s work at a much later stage. I truly hope neither one of these distinguished scholars is spinning in their grave though I suspect they would be equally thrilled with the universal recognition of their work.
I call this the “bicycle rule”; it’s been around forever. Everyone understands a bicycle; everyone’s got experience with a bicycle; everyone has an opinion on a bicycle. So when the issues are complicated or complex, there is a natural tendency to push away and simplify, often settling on something that everyone can understand… to wit, the bicycle metaphor. Thus, because everyone can join in and participate, a good deal of time is given to the bicycle. This gives the fig leaf cover of ostensibly making progress (a lot of discussion; everyone participated, and perhaps some agreement was reached) but of course the more difficult, complicated, or complex drew the short straw on time given to their discussion.
John Goodpasture recently posted..Large numbers and small
Great analogy John. Should organizations introduce the role of CVO – ‘Chief value for money officer’?