Parkinson's Law

Give somebody a a long time to complete a task and you
generally find that how long it takes them to do it. Give them a short timeframe for the same task and thats how long it will take them to do it.

Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." A more succinct phrasing also commonly used is "work expands to fill the time available." In know its true because I am living proof. I do my best work when the deadline is looming, in the meantime I am just busy.

Why does the whole working world require 8 hours per day, 5 days per work to get the job done? It has just become standard practice for us to work 9-5 Monday to Friday...and then maybe some overtime to finish what really needs to be finished.

I believe Parkinson's Law to be true. It certainly explains why we all need the same amount of allocated time to complete such a diverse range of tasks. What it say to me is that we are mainly filling in time. We are told to work 9-5 Monday to Friday and so thats what we do and that is how long it takes us to do our work.

What if we were told to work 1-5 instead? Suddenly our work day is halved. How will we cope? I suggest that we might actually perform better. With only half the time available to us, we suddenly prioritise what actually needs to be done and block out intrusions. Less time checking email and responding to chit chat, phones are turned off or screened, no aimless web surfing, less office gossip....there's work to be done and not much time in which to do it.

Halving my in-office time is the latest step in my Perfect Life Project. Instead of arriving before 9am, eating lunch at my desk and leaving after 5pm, I am now not arriving at the office until 1pm (or thereabouts).

I fill my mornings doing some of the things that are important to me. Fitness, helping my kids get to school, and addressing the one or two main tasks that needed to be done for work that day. Most of all I have half a day to gather my thoughts without interruption. No noise, no phones, not even any email until late morning.

When I arrive at work I am fresh, happy and ready to knock over whatever was left on my jobs list. I am in a better frame of mind to assist my staff and answer whatever questions they might have, and I feel much less stressed.

I batch my remaining work so that is done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Answer all necessary emails in one ten minute session, return all important calls in half an hour, check any necessary financial data in 5 minutes. The rest of the day I can spend with my staff concentrating on issues and creative concepts.

I have been conducting this phase of the project for two weeks now and at this stage it has been a walk in the park. I haven't missed anything important. My staff are being very productive. Without me around as much they tend to solve more problems themselves. I also interrupt them less so it's win-win. Everything is being completed on time, including my tasks. Best of all I seem to have more perspective and clarity. I am becoming more of an outsider to the agency so I can see things differently.

So far I would suggest the business has not missed a beat with me only working in the office from 1-5. Yes I am doing some work at home before arriving at the office, but this is done quickly. And yes it's true, as a business owner you never really stop working because you cannot turn off your mind. But overall I believe this could actually improve my business. Halving my work week might actually be more profitable.

It's another step forward in my quest for the Perfect Life. Already in a short amount of time I have managed to delegate a large number of responsibilities, staffed the business so that it can operate successfully without me, focussed the business on the customers and functions that really matter, doubled my holiday time to 10 weeks over the next 12 months, and now halved my office hours from 40+ to 20 hours per week.

It's early days but so far I would call this Project a success.

Comments

[x3r0bug]

Wow congratulations with your progress. It's great that you have the flexibility to give yourself more holiday time and cut your work weeks in half.

I wish that the standard full-time working hours were 1-5. I could get a lot of personal things done during the week, that I have limited time to work on normally--for example, my blog.

Those are some interesting points you made about Parkinson's Law. I never really though t of it before, but you are right in that people normally work better, and faster (efficiency) under strict deadlines and with limited time. I, myself, am also living proof of this, as I tend to put things off until I know when I need to have them done by.