CLEP Principles of Management Exam Prep

Answer: C - “Work expands to the time allotted.” Is Parkinson’s Law.

A, “If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong” is the famous Murphy’s Law.

B is actually Hofstadter’s Law, which is self-referencing and states “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter’s law into account.” This is something most experienced project managers already know. Hofstadter's Law comes from Douglas Hofstadter's Godel, Escher and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, from the year 1979. It is sometimes cited by coder when discussing productivity improvement techniques.

D, “80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes” is Pareto’s Law.

Key Takeaways: One way this is useful is to remind you to set aggressive deadlines to resources. You can always be a bit flexible, but keep in mind that if they don’t perceive these as hard deadlines, your implementation resources will probably procrastinate just the same.