00:00 Too many projects, deadlines too tight, extreme time pressure, nothing gets done.
00:10 Deadlines can be a curse or a blessing.
00:16 Deadlines are also indispensable.
00:20 British historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson formulated a law in 1955.
00:26 Work expands in proportion to the time available to complete it.
00:32 In other words, the shorter the deadline, the more efficient the work.
00:37 He gave the example of a pensioner who has no deadlines and wants to write a letter to
00:42 her niece.
00:45 It takes her an hour to find the right card and another hour to find her glasses.
00:53 She struggles to find the right words for two hours.
00:57 Before she leaves the house to send the card, she thinks for another 20 minutes about whether
01:01 to take an umbrella with her.
01:04 Overall, the old woman spends almost an entire working day, whereas others would need just
01:11 one hour.
01:13 For businesses, such a time extension without a deadline would be a disaster.
01:19 These days, especially, work is becoming more and more concentrated.
01:23 So could we simply shorten deadlines further according to Parkinson's law and therefore
01:28 increase productivity?
01:32 That's not a good idea because if deadlines are not achievable, employee recognition,
01:37 trust and motivation will suffer and quality will also suffer until everything crashes.
01:45 That wasn't Parkinson's idea.
01:49 Deadlines should therefore be tight but reasonable, preferably broken down into small steps.
01:54 Then the work can be done efficiently and deadlines are not harmful but helpful.
02:00 (upbeat music)
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