Some eponymous laws

which relates to software development or project management :D .



Brooks’ Law

Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

Parkinson’s Law

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Hoare’s Law of Large Programs

Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling to get out.

Lister’s Law

People under time pressure don’t think faster.

Pareto Principle

For many phenomena, 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes.

The Peter Principle

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

Conway’s Law

Any piece of software reflects the organizational structure that produced it.

Fitts’ Law

The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and the size of the target.

Tesler’s Law of Conservation as Complexity

You cannot reduce the complexity of a given task beyond a certain point. Once you’ve reached that point, you can only shift the burden around.

Occam’s Razor

The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.

Hofstadter’s Law

A task always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.

Ninety-ninety Law

The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time.

Hartree’s Law

Whatever the state of a project, the time a project-leader will estimate for completion is constant.

Jakob’s Law of the Internet User Experience

Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.

Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem

The more highly adapted an organism becomes, the less adaptable it is to any new change.

Clarke’s Second Law

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Have fun !