Which Wins - Speed Or Efficiency, For You & Your Team?

Parkinson's law is the adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." It is sometimes applied to the growth of bureaucracy in an organization. So you have an 8 hour day but only 3 hours worth of work to do - you stretch your 3 hours into that 8 hour work day. 

Articulated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as part of the first sentence of an essay published in The Economist in 1955 and since republished online in many places.

“Work complicates to fill the available time.” 

If you have been given 5 hours to do a project then you will fill the 5 hours or close to it to prove that you are impactful to the company. If you owned the company you would cover the task as fast as you can to move onto the next task. 

“If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.”

Ever given a task to a teenager? Ever been given a task when you were a teenager to clean your room? I took till about 30 minutes prior to the deadline and then started cleaning. I was always able to get it cleaned right before the deadline.

“Work contracts to fit in the time we give it.”

If you have a large project at work you only have X amount of time to fill the day and meet your deadline. 

Bureaucracy in an organization can lead to inefficient time management. Speed wins does not always lead to efficient time management and scope creep will lead to compounding problems. The impact of thinking about Parkinson’s Law in your day and leading your team will help to make your team and yourself much more efficient in your day. Your productivity will increase personally and if you carry these things over to your team then the velocity of your team increases. Do not worry about the adage of “Speed Wins” as people will inherently spread their day to fill the time. The goal should be to maximize the time of the team and everyone individually.  

I was once at a company that touted that "Speed Wins", I saw many people waste time. I went with the thought of "Efficiency Wins" for my team and we had so much success that we did things nobody every thought of. I will always take efficiency & quality over speed. Speed does not always win if you are not impactful and efficient.