Seven “Laws” for the Workplace

In this blog, Distance Cert director and Cert IBET learning mentor Ben Dobbs looks at seven "laws" that guide productivity and performance in the workplace.

On a recent KPI and Goal Setting course in Saudi Arabia, I made reference to "Goodhart's Law" as a warning about the dangers of treating KPIs (i..e things we measure to monitor progress and inform decisions) as targets (i.e. numbers to aim for or exceed) when a course participant asked me how many of these laws there are that are named after people. This got me thinking and prompted a review of several bits of course material in areas including performance measurement, time management and more.

These “laws” are informal principles that offer guidance and insight into human behaviour, productivity, time management and decision-making. They are often used in academic, professional and everyday contexts to explain why things go wrong, take longer or require caution. These are valuable to students, project managers and others as well as anyone who needs to solve workplace problems, plan activities or measure performance of teams or organisations.

Here, we look at seven of these laws in no particular order and will treat anything from physics, chemistry and so on as outside the scope of this blog:

Law 1 - Parkinson’s Law:

In a phrase: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

Meaning: Tasks and projects may take longer than necessary if given excessive time, leading to inefficiencies and reduced productivity. Without conscious effort, there will be maximum effort at the start of a project or task before a lull in activity occurs and then hectic and panicked action before any deadline.

Example: A report due in two weeks takes the full two weeks to complete, even though it could have been done in three days.

Law 2 - Goodhart’s Law:     

In a phrase: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”       

Meaning: If employees are judged only on sales numbers, they may push short term deals that harm long term relationships. This means that once people know they are being judged by a specific metric, they often change their behaviour to meet the metric, sometimes at the expense of the actual goal.

Example:  A company wants to improve customer service, so it sets a target that all calls to their helpline must be answered within two minutes. As a result, employees rush to pick up calls quickly but then transfer customers or end calls prematurely to meet the time target. Fast call answering is achieved, but overall customer satisfaction drops because the real goal, quality service. is undermined.

Law 3 - Wilson’s Law:

In a phrase: “If you prioritise knowledge and intelligence, money will follow.”

Meaning: Success is best achieved by investing in knowledge and continuous improvement, rather than chasing money directly. By becoming more skilled, informed and intelligent, you increase your value in any workplace or market. While some “laws” (like Murphy’s or Parkinson’s) highlight problems, Wilson’s Law is optimistic as it emphasises growth and long‑term payoff.

Example: An employee takes advanced courses in data analytics. Within a year, they are promoted to lead projects and their salary increases.

Law 4 - Falkland’s Law:

In a phrase: “If you don’t have to make a decision, don’t make one.”

Meaning: Unnecessary decisions should be avoided; sometimes the wisest course of action is inaction. Often (but not always) waiting until more information is available, a situation becomes more settled or until a decision is truly necessary. Premature decisions can create problems that might never have arisen otherwise.

Example: A department head delays choosing a new vendor until the budget is finalised, avoiding premature commitments.

Law 5 - Murphy’s Law:

In a phrase: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Meaning: In planning, for example in product development, there is a chance of error or failure, it is wise to assume it will happen and plan accordingly. This is not about pessimism but about risk awareness and building safeguards to prevent issues arising later.

Example: A team schedules a product launch without a backup plan and the server crashes on launch day.

Law 6 - Kidlin’s Law:

In a phrase: “If you can write the problem clearly, you’ve solved half of it.”

Meaning: Clarity is the foundation of problem‑solving. When you take the time to define an issue precisely, the solution often becomes obvious or at least easier to find. Many problems feel overwhelming because they are vague. Writing them down forces structure, focus and better understanding through reducing ambiguity.

Example:  A team struggles with missed deadlines. Once the manager writes down the problem as “We lack a clear timeline with assigned responsibilities”, the solution (in this case, create a project schedule with task owners) becomes clear.

Law 7 - Gilbert’s Law:

In a phrase: “The biggest problem in work is that no one tells you what to do or how to do it.”

Meaning: When you take on a task, finding the best ways to achieve the desired result is always your responsibility.  This tells us that success depends on us being proactive and accountable as well as resilient when faced with challenges.

Example: A team member notices tasks piling up. Instead of letting the problems grow, they take the initiative and create a shared task tracker so colleagues can coordinate without waiting for instructions.

Conclusions:

These “laws” encourage realistic planning and contingency thinking. They promote efficient time management and task prioritisation while supporting problem-solving clarity and strategic patience. They also reinforce the value and importance of training, learning, proactive behaviour and preparation.