Murphy's Law

Whenever I used to lecture about Project Management, the first main topic I touched upon was Murphy's Law:

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

My good friend, Kamu, left for a trip to Helsinki on Thursday night. I promised to take his wife, Naiomi, to work on Saturday morning at 08:40.

I went to the car at 08:10. As life would have it, I found the battery dead - I had left my headlights on overnight.

I thought to go on Joanna's scooter to Kamu's place and use his car - but even though the temperature has been rising over the last few days, I found the scooter embedded in snow, snow which would have taken a good part of half an hour to clear.

So the only alternative was to call for a taxi - but when I looked in my wallet, I had only Euro 10 in cash. As I do not pay by card, I had to plan to go to the automat first to collect cash.

I decided to call the cab but could not find my mobile. I went inside the house and dialled the mobile number to locate it, but then realised I had put it on silent, so I would not hear the ring.

However, I did ring, and I could hear the shudder of a silent phone, but still could not think where I put it.

Then the first piece of luck struck - I put my hand in my trouser pocket - and I found the mobile in it!

From then on Murphy's Law was in reverse as I called the cab, went to the automat to draw the money, and then went to Kamu's place to reach exactly at the promised time 08:40! Kamu's wife reached work ON TIME!

Parallel thinking is a must when faced with such a situation. Parallel action is also a must. So simultaneous actions so that milestones can be reached by any of several routes will always help you overcome the disastrous effects of Murphy's Law. Most Project Managers give up when faced with a series of bad breaks and start to reschedule - a sign of a loser!

I no longer lecture on any subjects, but Murphy's Law along with Parkinson's Law ("Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.") and the Peter Principle ("In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence") are three of the unique aspects of my experience in working life which have stayed in my mind in my retirement.