Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a British Civil servant, famously said in 1955, "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." Or in other words, If you allow for more than enough time for a project the project will still not finish before time. This also happens if your team is running late and you give them an extension of time - which you might think is more than enough - and they will still feel that there was not enough time for the project.
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review tries to explain why this happens. The farther you are from the goal the less important it appears to you, and the less up front effort you expend to get it done. The closer the delivery time comes, the more importance the deadline assumes. Psychologists call it the "the goal looms larger" effect.
In practice this means that if you give your team an
extension of time you are just pushing the goal further away, thus once again making
it smaller and less important. As the goal recedes, your team loses the
motivation to work hard.
How to Plan for the Effects of Parkinson’s Law
The article also suggests a way to minimize the incidence of
this effect – (1) don’t ignore the possibility that apparently minor sub tasks may turn into
major time sinks, and (2) break up the goal into several smaller sub goals strategically
spaced out in time. However, you should keep in mind that there should be
consequences for the team if the sub goals are not achieved on time.
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