The Murphy's Laws Pages

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Brooke's Law	Adding manpower to a late project usually makes it later.
Osborn's Law Of Programming	Variable's won't; constants aren't.
Etorre's Observation	The other line always moves faster. Until you switch lines.
Kitman's Law Of Tv Programming	Pure drivel always overcomes ordinary drivel.
First Law Of Cycling	No matter which direction you ride, it's always uphill and against the wind.
The Airport Law	When the plane you are on is late, your connecting flight is on time.
First Law Of Bridge	It's always your partner's fault.
Gordon's First Law	If a project is not worth doing, it is not worth doing well.
William's & Holland's Law	If enough data is collected, anything can be proved by statistical methods.
Rule Of Accuracy	When working towards the solution of a problem, it always helps to know the answer.
Young's Law	All great discoveries are made by accident. But the greater the funding, the longer it takes to make the mistake.
Meskimem's Law	There is never time to do it right, but there is always time to do it over.
Heller's Law	The first myth of management is that it exists. The second is that it matters.
Johnson's Corollary To Heller's Law	Nobody really knows what is going on anywhere within the organization.
Peter Principle	In a hierarchy, every person tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
Peter Principle: Corollary 1	In time, every post tends to be occupied by someone who is incompetent to perform its function.
Peter Principle: Corollary 2	Work is accomplished by those persons who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.
Peter's Inversion:	Internal consistency is valued more highly then efficient service.
Peter's Observation	Super-competence is more objectionable than incompetence.
Peter's Hidden Postulate	Every person begins at his/her level of competence.
Peter's Law Of Evolution	Competence always contains the seed of incompetence.
Peter's Rule For Creative Incompetence	Create the impression that you have already reached your level of incompetence.
Peter's Law Of Substitution	Look after the molehills, and the mountains will look after themselves.
Peter's Prognosis	Spend sufficient time in confirming the need, and the need will disappear.
Peter's Placebo	An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.
Godin's Law	Generalizedness of incompetence is directly proportional to highestness in hierarchy.
Vail's Axiom	In any enterprise, work tends to seek the lowest level in the hierarchy.
Parkinson's Fourth Law	The number of people in any working group tends to increase regardless of the amount of work being done.
Parkinson's Fifth Law	If there is a way to delay an important decision, the good bureaucracy, public or private, will find it.
Parkinson's Axioms	1) An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals. 2) Officials make work for each other.
Zymurgy's Law Of Volunteer Labour	People are always available for work in the past tense.
Law Of Communications	Improved communications provide improved means of misunderstanding.
Management Truth # 1	Think before you act; it's not your money.
Management Truth # 2	All good management is the expression of one great idea.
Management Truth # 3	No executive devotes much effort to proving himself wrong.
Management Truth # 4	If sophisticated calculations are needed to justify an action, don't do it.
Jay's First Law Of Leadership	Changing things is central to leadership, and changing them before anyone else is creativity.
Worker's Dilemma	No matter how much you do, it is not enough. What you don't do is always more important that what you do do.
H.L.Mencken's Law	Those who can, do.
Army Axiom	Any order that can be misunderstood, has already been misunderstood. And passed down the chain of command.
Jones's Law	The person who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.
Harris's Lament	All the good ones have already been taken.
Shanahan's Law	The length of a meeting increases with the square of the number of people present.
Lord Falkland's Rule	When it is NOT necessary to make a decision, it is necessary to NOT make a decision.
Truman's Law	If you cannot convince them, confuse them.
First Law Of Debate	Never argue with a fool - people might not know the difference.
Boren's Law	1) When in doubt, mumble. 2) When in trouble, delegate. 3) When in charge, ponder.
Parker's Rule Of Parliamentary Procedure.	A motion to adjourn is always in order
Patton's Law	A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
Frothingham's Fallacy	Time is money.
Crane's Law	There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
Parkinson's First Law	Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
Parkinson's Second Law	Expenditures rise to meet income.
Parkinson's Law Of Delay	Delay is the deadliest form of denial.
Wiker's Law	Government expands to absorb revenue, and then some.
Gresham's Law	Trivial matters are handled promptly; important matters are never completed.
90-90 Rule Of Project Schedules	The first 90% of a task takes 10% of the time, and the last 10% takes the other 90%.
Weinberg's First Law	Progress is made on alternate Fridays. Except before long weekends.
Cheops's Law	Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.
Golden Rule Of Gamesmanship	Whoever has the gold makes the rules.
Dunne's Law	The territory behind rhetoric is too often mined with equivocation.
Weinberg's Corollary	An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while sweeping on to the grand fallacy.
Potter's Law	The amount of flak received on any controversial subject is in inverse proportion to the subject's true value.

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