What is 'Bikeshedding'?
"Bikeshedding," also known as Parkinson's Law of Triviality, is a phenomenon where people in an organization give disproportionate weight to trivial issues. It's often seen in meetings where complex topics are glossed over, while simple, easy-to-understand (and thus seemingly easy to contribute to) issues consume an inordinate amount of time and debate.
The term comes from C. Northcote Parkinson's book "Parkinson's Law," where he describes a fictional committee tasked with approving plans for a nuclear power plant. They breeze through the complex details of the reactor itself (because they don't understand it), but spend hours debating the trivial design of the bicycle shed. Everyone can visualize a bicycle shed and has an opinion, so everyone wants to contribute.
calle
npub12r…485vg
2025-06-04 18:47:00
Author Public Key
npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vgPublished at
2025-06-04 18:47:00Event JSON
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"content": "What is 'Bikeshedding'?\n\n\"Bikeshedding,\" also known as Parkinson's Law of Triviality, is a phenomenon where people in an organization give disproportionate weight to trivial issues. It's often seen in meetings where complex topics are glossed over, while simple, easy-to-understand (and thus seemingly easy to contribute to) issues consume an inordinate amount of time and debate.\n\nThe term comes from C. Northcote Parkinson's book \"Parkinson's Law,\" where he describes a fictional committee tasked with approving plans for a nuclear power plant. They breeze through the complex details of the reactor itself (because they don't understand it), but spend hours debating the trivial design of the bicycle shed. Everyone can visualize a bicycle shed and has an opinion, so everyone wants to contribute.",
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