The 9 most quoted laws (Murphy's, Pareto, Parkinson's etc)
The 9 most quoted laws
I. Murphy's law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
"If there are two or more ways to do something and one of those results in a catastrophe, then someone will do it that catastrophic way."
"What-ever can happen will happen if we do enough tries or tests."
II. Kidlin's law: "If you write the problem down clearly and specifically, you have solved half of it."
"If you can't write your problem down clearly, you don't understand it."
III. Giblert's law: “The biggest problem in any project is rarely what you initially thought it was.”
“The biggest problem at work is that we don’t think there should be problems.”
Problems are not exceptions -they are the rule
Or, once a project or task begins, unforeseen issues or complexities will likely arise, shifting the focus away from the problem you originally set out to solve, for example: new information, scope creep, external factors, internal dynamics.
The biggest problem with a job is that no one tells you what to do. No one will tell you exactly how to succeed, it's your responsibility to figure it out.
When you take on a task, finding the best ways to achieve the desired result is always your responsibility.
Solutions: Ask Questions. Break Down the Task. Take Initiative, Document Everything. Add Buffers.
IV. Wilson's law: "Prioritize gaining knowledge and intelligence, and money will naturally follow."
Applies to individuals and organizations
V. Falkland's law: "If you don't have to make a decision, then don't."
"Don't decide just for the sake of deciding.".
"If it isn't necessary to make a decision yet, it's necessary to not make one."
Not Procrastination: The law isn't a call to avoid all decisions, but to discern which ones truly need immediate attention,
Reasons: Conserve Mental Energy. Avoid wasting decision-making power on trivial matters. Patience & Reflection: Allow time for more information to emerge and situations to develop. Strategic Inaction: Sometimes, the best move is no move at all.
Modern Applications: Countering Decision Fatigue: Helps manage the overwhelming number of choices in daily life.
Leadership: Managers can use it in crises to avoid premature, potentially damaging actions.
VI. Parkinson's law: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
The number of workers within public administration, bureaucracy, or officialdom tends to grow, regardless of the amount of work to be done, attributable mainly to two factors: officials want subordinates, not rivals, and officials make work for each other.
Corollaries: If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do. In ten hours a day you have time to fall twice as far behind your commitments as in five hours a day. Data expands to fill the space available for storage.
VII. Pareto principle (80/20 rule): "For many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the "vital few")."
20% of the hazards account for 80% of the injuries. Fixing the top 20% of the most-reported bugs, 80% of the related errors and crashes in a given system would be eliminated.
IIX. 1% rule: "Only 1% of the users of a website etc actively create new content, while the other 99% of the participants only lurk."
IX. Sturgeon's law: "90% ninety percent of everything is crap"
"Nothing is always absolutely so"
In science fiction books 90% is indeed crud, but 90% of everything is crud.
All things – cars, books, cheeses, hairstyles, people etc, are to the expert and discerning eye, crud, except for the acceptable few which we each happen to like.
I wrote down the laws above succinctly. I take "law" or "rule" to not mean an absolute. They have often helped me with decisions or considering a project or challenge from a new angle, so I like having them handy.
It is only one of many useful lenses to look at the world or a problem. The exceptions prove the rule. Often there many ways of looking at the world -or even one issue- that are valid and valuable in their own right, sometimes even contradictory ones.