The cynical developer's dictionary of project management

Bikeshedding: See Parkinson’s law of triviality.

Duck: A feature added for no other reason than to draw management attention and be removed, thus avoiding unnecessary changes in other aspects of the product.

Dilbert principle: Companies tend to systematically promote their least competent employees to limit the damage they are capable of doing.

Meeting burn rate: The cost per unit of time of a meeting, calculated from the average cost per hour of its attendees.

Parkinson’s law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Parkinson’s law of triviality: It’s easier to pass the budget for a nuclear plant than for the shed next to it. A duck (see above) is a counter-measure to this law.

Politician’s syllogism (the): “We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.”

Putt’s law: Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand.

Sayre’s law: In any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake”;