In his great first essay, Parkinson displayed his fundamental method: He reasoned from the behavior of individuals--the different times a busy man and "an elderly lady of leisure" might take to write a postcard--to the behavior of organizations, in this instance their inexorable tendency to grow regardless of the amount of work to be done. Two axioms governed the process, he noted: "(1) an official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals; and (2) officials make work for each other"--supervising each other's efforts, holding meetings and so on.

He noted that:

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

Expenditure rises to meet income.

Expansion means complexity, and complexity decay.

THE LAW OF DELAY: Delay is the deadliest form of denial.

THE LAW OF TRIVIALITY: The time spent on any item of a committee's agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum of money involved.