Law of Triviality

Notes

• People within an organization commonly give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.
  • If they need to discuss a database architecture (more important) and the color of a button (less important), they'll spend more time discussing the button.
  • This happens because the more important topic the more complex it may be, and the group assumes that the ones who'll work on it understand it.
    • An average person cannot understand it, the majority of the group.
  • The less important topic may be less complex, everyone has an opinion and want to add a personal contribution.
    • Can result in endless discussion.
      • Now imagine this scenario and add a lot of bureaucracy and formalisms, like a parliamentary session.
• Also known as:
  • bicycle-shed effect;
  • bike-shed effect;
  • bike-shedding.
• It's a corollary of the Parkinson's Law.

References

• Law of triviality

Backlinks

• What Is Product Strategy, and Why Is It Important?