The cynical developer's dictionary of project management Posted on
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”;