Parkinson’s law of triviality

E656396

adage cognitive bias description management theory concept organizational behavior concept sociological concept

Parkinson’s law of triviality is the adage that people in organizations tend to give disproportionate attention and time to trivial issues while neglecting more important, complex matters.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Parkinson’s law	1
Parkinson’s law of triviality canonical	1
law of triviality	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7329728 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Parkinson’s law of triviality
Context triple: [Wirth’s law, relatedTo, Parkinson’s law of triviality]

A. The Dilbert Principle
The Dilbert Principle is a satirical business book that critiques corporate management and workplace culture, expanding on themes from the Dilbert comic strip.
B. Law of the Maximum
The Law of the Maximum was a French Revolutionary price-control measure that fixed maximum prices on essential goods to curb inflation and protect the urban poor.
C. Drucker stability postulate
The Drucker stability postulate is a fundamental criterion in plasticity theory that asserts materials must not exhibit negative incremental work, ensuring stable and physically realistic material behavior under loading.
D. The Bureaucratic Phenomenon
The Bureaucratic Phenomenon is a seminal sociological study by Michel Crozier that analyzes how bureaucratic organizations function, resist change, and generate dysfunctions within modern society.
E. Aitken’s Law
Aitken’s Law is a phonological rule in Scots and Scottish English that governs when vowels are pronounced long or short depending on their phonetic and morphological environment.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Parkinson’s law of triviality
Target entity description: Parkinson’s law of triviality is the adage that people in organizations tend to give disproportionate attention and time to trivial issues while neglecting more important, complex matters.

A. The Dilbert Principle
The Dilbert Principle is a satirical business book that critiques corporate management and workplace culture, expanding on themes from the Dilbert comic strip.
B. Law of the Maximum
The Law of the Maximum was a French Revolutionary price-control measure that fixed maximum prices on essential goods to curb inflation and protect the urban poor.
C. Drucker stability postulate
The Drucker stability postulate is a fundamental criterion in plasticity theory that asserts materials must not exhibit negative incremental work, ensuring stable and physically realistic material behavior under loading.
D. The Bureaucratic Phenomenon
The Bureaucratic Phenomenon is a seminal sociological study by Michel Crozier that analyzes how bureaucratic organizations function, resist change, and generate dysfunctions within modern society.
E. Aitken’s Law
Aitken’s Law is a phonological rule in Scots and Scottish English that governs when vowels are pronounced long or short depending on their phonetic and morphological environment.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	adage ⓘ cognitive bias description ⓘ management theory concept ⓘ organizational behavior concept ⓘ sociological concept ⓘ
addresses	inefficient collective decision-making ⓘ misallocation of attention in organizations ⓘ organizational focus on low-stakes details ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	bikeshedding ⓘ
appliesTo	academic committees ⓘ boards ⓘ committees ⓘ corporate meetings ⓘ nonprofit organizations ⓘ online communities ⓘ public administration ⓘ software development teams ⓘ
coinedBy	C. Northcote Parkinson ⓘ
coreIdea	discussion time is inversely related to the importance or cost of the issue ⓘ group members avoid complex topics that require expertise or effort ⓘ people feel more comfortable discussing simple topics they understand ⓘ
describedIn	the book "Parkinson’s Law, and Other Studies in Administration" ⓘ
describes	disproportionate attention to simple, low-impact matters ⓘ neglect of complex, high-impact issues in group discussions ⓘ tendency of groups to spend excessive time on trivial issues ⓘ
field	behavioral economics ⓘ management science ⓘ organizational theory ⓘ social psychology ⓘ
goal	encourage focus on high-impact decisions ⓘ highlight wasteful use of collective time ⓘ
hasExample	board focusing on parking layout instead of financial risk ⓘ committee debating coffee quality more than budget allocation ⓘ team arguing over logo color instead of product strategy ⓘ
illustratedBy	example of a committee spending more time on a bike shed than on a nuclear reactor ⓘ
influenced	discourse on productivity in organizations ⓘ popular discussions of "bikeshedding" in software engineering ⓘ
publicationYear	1957 ⓘ
relatedTo	Parkinson’s law ⓘ linked to: Parkinson’s law of triviality analysis paralysis ⓘ decision-making bias ⓘ groupthink ⓘ law of triviality ⓘ linked to: Parkinson’s law of triviality meetings management ⓘ status quo bias ⓘ
usedAs	argument for agenda prioritization ⓘ argument for timeboxing discussions ⓘ critique of inefficient meetings ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Wirth’s law → relatedTo → Parkinson’s law of triviality ⓘ

Parkinson’s law of triviality → relatedTo → Parkinson’s law ⓘ

linked to: Parkinson’s law of triviality

Parkinson’s law of triviality → relatedTo → law of triviality ⓘ