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In the 1950s, British historian Northeaster Parkinson came up with a concept which was later known as Parkinson’s Law of Triviality. It states that the amount of time spent discussing an issue in an organization is oppositely associated with its actual importance.

Parkinson’s Law of Triviality is also known as “bike-shedding (车棚)”, after the story Parkinson uses to illustrate it. He asks readers to imagine a financial committee meeting to discuss a three-point agenda. The points are as follows: A proposal for a￡10 million nuclear power plant; A proposal for a￡350 bike shed; A proposal for a￡21 annual coffee budget.

What happens? The committee ends up running through the nuclear power plant proposal in little time. It’s too advanced for anyone to really dig into the details. The discussion soon moves to the bike shed. Here, everyone’s an expert. In the end, the committee runs out of time and decides to meet again to complete their analysis.

Bike-shedding happens because the smaller a matter is, the more people will have an opinion on it, even when there is no genuine value to add. When something is outside of our circle of competence, like a nuclear power plant, we don’t even try to express an opinion. But when something is comprehensible, everyone wants to show that they know about the topic at hand.

How can we avoid bike-shedding? The main thing you can do is to have a clear purpose. Priya Parker, the author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, says that any successful gathering needs to have a focused purpose. “Specificity,” she says, “is a crucial element.”

When it comes to choosing your list of invitees, Parker writes, “if the purpose of your meeting is to make a decision, you may want to consider having fewer cooks in the kitchen.” Getting the result you want - a thoughtful, educated discussion about that power plant - depends on having the right people in the room.