Mysterious like dark matter, an unseen force is stealing vast amounts of your time, productivity, and profits. Yet again, this force will restrict your business growth and development in 2023 and beyond, unless you get it under control. If you want to get stuff done in 2023, you need to understand the concept of Parkinson’s Law.

Parkinson’s Law surrounds most of us every hour, week, month, and year. It is often why you get home late to spend the rest of the evening quoting and answering emails, texts, and other messages. 

The plan you have to set up your new CRM or your new website goes out of the window for another week, along with your hobbies. Why does that quick 10 minute job always get you home one hour later than planned? And why do those big installs always eat into your admin/business development days?

Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion”. In other words, if you give someone an installation job with a tight two day deadline, they will likely complete it in that time frame. However, giving them the same job but with a more relaxed and extended deadline of three days, for example, the same two-day job will probably run into the third day because it is available.

Parkinson’s Law can be applied to many areas of business. Here are some common applications.

Time allocation 

If a project is given an open-ended timeline, time often ends up being wasted, as team members take longer than necessary to complete their tasks. 

Writing procedures with clear expected timescales, supported by regular check-ins, can help keep the project on track and minimise wasted time and money. 

With clear guidelines and expectations in place, you and your team should focus on getting the installation/service job done, cleaned up, and ensuring that the customer is fully satisfied with the work. Chatting football with the customer, sorting out the screw box, and laying out symmetrical clips for Instagram pics might benefit customer relations and your own satisfaction, but does little for company profits.

Budget allocation 

Parkinson’s Law can be applied to money also. People managing teams will fully understand the cost of an employee’s time, but what about the sole traders?  

A common mistake happens when engineers first start up independently. They will spend most of the available funds on the van and signage, kitting it out with the latest tool kits to show off on social media. 

Yes, a van and tools are essential to our work, and you certainly need them, but what about your website, telephone, and sales systems? Your fancy tools do nothing if a customer cannot find you and you don’t have the sales tools to win the job!

Prioritisation 

People are forced to prioritise essential tasks and eliminate unnecessary activities when given a limited time. Prioritisation should also apply to your time in the office. 

If you are struggling to keep up with your quotes, prioritise the ones you have the best chance of winning and potentially stop quoting on certain types of work that have you researching products and prices late into the evening. The secret is to stop trying to get more tasks ticked off, and focus on getting the important ones done. Prioritisation also applies to money. Check out the book Profit First for more on that.

The obvious pitfall to note and avoid is that setting unrealistic deadlines for your team will cause more mistakes, leaks, and unnecessary stress, particularly in peak season. Quality of work should not be at risk; therefore, it is crucial to balance setting tight deadlines that encourage efficiency and realistic deadlines.

Business development

The crux of Parkinson’s Law is that humans use whatever resources are available to them. 

Your business development and future growth are dictated by how you spend your time and budget, or how you reserve time and money, and invest in assets that give you the advantage over your competition.

CONNECT WITH THE BOILER BUSINESS

The Boiler Business is helping the plumbing and heating industry. Their supporting resources, training, and learning are now available on their website. You can also engage with 1,500 other engineers on The Boiler Business Facebook group.

www.theboilerbusiness.co.uk