Law of Triviality

QUOTE

Warren Buffett once said…

“There seems to be a perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.”

(American investor and philanthropist.)

CONCEPT

Law of Triviality

The Law of Triviality is a phenomenon in human behavior where groups tend to devote disproportionate amounts of time to trivial matters, often at the expense of more complex and important issues.

As a result, significant topics that require more expertise and understanding are either overlooked or not given the attention they deserve. The Law of Triviality underscores the human tendency to focus on the easy and understandable, even in contexts where the stakes are much higher.

STORY

A Nuclear Reactor … and a Bike Shed?

C. Northcote Parkinson, while working on the British Royal Navy's problems of bureaucracy and mismanagement, observed a fascinating yet concerning trend, which led him to articulate the Law of Triviality.

His observation stemmed from a real-life committee meeting about the construction of a nuclear reactor, an incident that perfectly encapsulated his theory.

In this meeting, the committee had two main items on the agenda: the approval of the plans for a multi-million-pound nuclear reactor and the approval of the construction plans for a bike shed.

Surprisingly, the discussion about the complex, expensive nuclear reactor was brief and lacked critical analysis. Most committee members didn't have the expertise to scrutinize the plans effectively, so they quickly moved on.

In stark contrast, the plan for the bike shed, a simple and low-cost structure, sparked prolonged and detailed discussions.

Every member had an opinion on the bike shed, from its design to the choice of materials. The triviality of the bike shed made it accessible and understandable, leading to disproportionate time and attention spent on it, while the more critical and complex nuclear reactor received cursory attention.

Parkinson's Law of Triviality was born from this real-life observation.

It highlighted a paradoxical tendency in organizational behavior: the simpler and more understandable the issue, the more time people will spend discussing it, often at the expense of more significant, complex issues.

Due to the observation’s origin, the Law of Triviality is often referred to as “bikeshedding.”