I worked for many, many years in the Information Technology (IT) business. Throughout my checkered career (and there were many checkered moments), I encountered all sorts of problems and ways to solve them. There was never a shortage of either. What I found was that over-simplification and under-estimation were an essential part of almost any solution. A few well-known sayings addressed some, but not all, of the solutions posed and are well-known to anyone who has existed and survived (existence and survival being the keys) for any length of time in this business.
First and foremost is Murphy’s Law. Murphy’s Law says that anything that can go wrong will go wrong … with a corollary that it will go wrong at the worst possible moment. It is not so much a description as it is an expectation. Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed. There are numerous sources but its current name is attributed to Capt. Edward A. Murphy, an engineer working on an Air Force project at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949.
Parkinson’s Law is an adage first stated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as part of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955. Parkinson’s Law says that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. He derived the dictum from his extensive experience in the British Civil Service. Parkinson noted that the total of those employed inside a bureaucracy increased each year “irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done.”
The Peter Principle, formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book of the same name, states that “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” The principle holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Eventually they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their “level of incompetence”), and there they remain, being unable to earn further promotions.
All three rules – Murphy’s Law, Parkinson’s Law and The Peter Principle – have been bandied about for decades and properly cover part of the commonly expressed view of projects under most situations.
But have you ever heard of Finagle’s Creed? Probably not. And yet Finagle’s Creed correctly describes every information technology project that was ever worked on or will be worked on.
Finagle’s Creed states:
- The information you have is not the information you want;
- The information you want is not the information you need;
- The information you need is not the information you can get;
- And the information you can get costs more than you want to pay for it.
Those of you in or associated with the information technology business, regardless of how complicated or straightforward the project you encountered, can tell me if this does not cover every project that you have ever worked on.
Finagle’s Creed, you heard it here first. You’re welcome.
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Postscript:
Do not be confused by Finagle’s Law: Science is truth – don’t be misled by facts.
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Curmudgeon at Large 
Wow … all the rules of problems in one place. 🙂 Thanks for Finangle’s.
Actually, I’ve got to do some research (bah!) on The Official Rules. More on this if my search is successful.
Have no fear … you’ll find it.
Years ago, when I was a wage slave in corporate America, and IT was still relatively young, but the users are pretty much what they’ve always been, relatively dim, one of the IT guys that had to deal with users and their computer difficulties, told me that the vast majority of computer problems are actually PEBKAC. Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
This remains true.
I LOVE THIS POST! Especially as a System Librarian!!!!! And I love the philosophy of expecting nothing and never being disappointed. Your is my favorite post of the DAY!
Never has so much grouchiness provided so much satisfaction.
Da
And don’t forget another important law … Sod’s Law. That’’s when you drop your toast and it lands jam and butter side down on the carpet. This also has implications for IT as it can happen when you are hovering over your computer as well.
I very much like Sod’s Law.
Too, too true. And if you do actually pay for the information, begin again at step 1: “The information you have is not the information you want…”
Yes, Finagle’s Creed recycles.
John Stossel covered a story recently that showed statistically people on welfare, given a certain length of time to find a job before the checks stop coming, will always find a job at exactly the time the checks are scheduled to stop and never before. So if they’re given 6 months, they’ll find a job in the last week of the sixth month, etc. No matter how much time they’re given it always turns out the same way. Isn’t that interesting? 🙂
I think they call this the “No incentive principle.”
Henny Youngman said that a doctor gave a man six months to live. When the man said that he couldn’t pay, the doctor gave him another six months.
“The Peter Principle”—Okay, you know where my adolescent mind went with that one…
That’s the other Peter Principle.
Fifth part of the creed is, “If your computer is acting up, reboot it.” No need for an IT guy. That solves every IT problem.
Especially if you boot the computer if it doesn’t reboot.
And boot the IT guy.