PGMP · Question #46
You are the program manager of the GHY Program in your organization. It has come to your attention that some of the project managers in your program are adding time to each project activity in an effo
The correct answer is A. Parkinson's Law. Parkinson's Law states: 'Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.' When project managers pad activity durations, the work tends to grow to consume all the extra time, providing no actual schedule benefit. This principle directly explains why padding is counterp
Question
You are the program manager of the GHY Program in your organization. It has come to your attention that some of the project managers in your program are adding time to each project activity in an effort to pad their durations in case some event happens in their project that will cause delays. What principle should you share with these project managers that counterattack the concept of padding activities with additional time?
Options
- AParkinson's Law
- BLaw of Diminishing Returns
- C80/20 Law
- DPareto's Law
How the community answered
(25 responses)- A88% (22)
- C4% (1)
- D8% (2)
Explanation
Parkinson's Law states: 'Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.' When project managers pad activity durations, the work tends to grow to consume all the extra time, providing no actual schedule benefit. This principle directly explains why padding is counterproductive - the buffer gets absorbed rather than saved. The Law of Diminishing Returns (B) relates to decreasing productivity when adding more resources. The 80/20 Rule / Pareto's Law (C and D are the same concept) states that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes, which is used for quality and prioritization analysis, not schedule padding.
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