Price's Law

[Ashara Keliyn]

I have learned about this today.

Price’s law says that 50% of the work is done by the square root of the total number of people who participate in the work.

Of course naturally I thought of my workplace and it's absolutely true. There are 48 of us and the majority of work is performed by 7.

What's your experience? Does this hold true in your organization?

 

[bflynn]

True here. There is just me on this project. The square root is one and he only does 50%.

 

[flyingpreacher]

I always heard 10% of the people do 90% of the work. Well, in the case of 100 people, 10% IS the square root! In my church, we are actively working to spread the workload around. Even if you can’t do X, or even Y, could you do Z? but yes, those most committed to the project/organization do tend to do the majority of the work. Those not as interested/committed tend to do only what is necessary.

 

[robin ardoin]

A friend of mine said “Service work is like a football game, there are 22 people on the field doing the work and 60,000 people in the stands enjoying their efforts and cheering them on”.

 

[Kelvin]

It is real close to accurate in the world I work in.

 

[Bob Noel]

sometimes personalities get in the way of spreading the workload. That is, get an immature, belligerent, thinks-he-knows-it-all, petulant guy involved and others will just avoid the work.

 

[X3 Skier]

Perhaps I can add Rick's Corollary.

90% of the people are working but only 10% are doing something useful. The remaining 10% are supervision.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Godwin's Law dictates that at some point this thread will be about BBQ.

 

[TCABM]

Godwin's Law dictates that at some point this thread will be about BBQ.

That should be Sac’s Law

 

[midwestpa24]

Godwin's Law dictates that at some point this thread will be about BBQ.

One person doing all the work while everyone else eats? I can see the connection.

Or the cliché of the wife preparing all the food, sides, etc., but the husband gets all the credit since he watched the grill?

 

[MauleSkinner]

Or the cliché of the wife preparing all the food, sides, etc., but the husband gets all the credit since he watched the grill?

My wife does most of the work, mostly because she’s really bad at delegating.