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"A sum of £2,350 is well within everybody's comprehension. Everyone can visualize a bicycle shed. Discussion goes on, therefore, for forty-five minutes, with the possible result of saving some £300."

— Parkinson, C. Northcote event 1958

From Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress

Context: From the same chapter. Just before this, Parkinson's fictional committee approved a £10,000,000 reactor contract in two and a half minutes without discussion — nobody understood it well enough to object. The bicycle shed, by contrast, is something everyone has an opinion on.

Topics

corporate_fare Bureaucracy psychology Decision Making psychology_alt Cognitive Bias