First, to get it out of the way, it is pronounced “i-pon-uh-muss”. And if those phonetics don’t help, here’s any MP3.
Eponymous roughly means when something is named after something else. Some examples are an Arnold Palmer and Diesel (probably related to Vin, but I’m already quite off topic.) Beyond being interested Jeopardy trivia, what does this have to do with understanding humans? I’ll give you an example…
Do you ever feel like the more options you have, the longer it takes to make a decision? You’re not alone. William Edmund Hick studied this in the 1950s, and after publishing his findings it became known as Hick’s Law. Why does this matter? Because when you recognize frustrating behaviors in family and co-workers are common enough that Eponymous Laws were named those quirks, then you can learn the tricks and warning signs to minimize their impact on your objects.
For example with Hick’s law, the answer might be obvious – reduce the number of options when you want to have a quick answer. (You might know this answer if you’ve read “Paradox of Choice” from my recommended readings. But now I’m off topic. Again…)
Although Wikipedia has a list of 100+ Eponymous laws, there are 16 that have stuck with me over the years. Over the next weeks, I’ll publish four posts covering what they are and why I like them. Let’s get started…
Benford’s law of controversy
Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.
It is easy to get political about this, but there’s plenty of this in most companies that we can keep it focused on business. The lesson is to recognize that when facts are scarce, people rely on biases and emotions. This isn’t an arms race that anyone has ever one with a shouting match. Instead recognize it as it is happening, take a breath, and find ways to jointly seek out better information.
Brandolini’s Law
The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.
This one is very similar to the previous point, and it is a fancy way of saying the quote “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
Why I like this one: It reminds me how much work is required before entering an argument. Coupling this with the importance of assuming positive intent is vital, and it is incredibly effective because there are so many hours in the day. When you’re strategic on the misinformation that you want to correct AND you know the level of effort to change it, you’ll experience more success and less stress.
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality
The time spent on any agenda item will be in inverse proportion to the sum of money involved.
This is also called bikeshedding, and it is probably the law that I break the most. The best way to understand it is to know the history behind the term “bikeshedding”:
Parkinson observed that a committee whose job is to approve plans for a nuclear power plant may spend the majority of its time on relatively unimportant but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what materials to use for the staff bikeshed, while neglecting the design of the power plant itself, which is far more important but also far more difficult to criticize constructively.
Yikes, right? Makes the areas where I’ve bikeshedded (sp?) feel trivial, but that doesn’t make the problem less real.
The cure? Recognition. The faster you recognize when you – or others – are bikeshedding (plus getting that verb into everyone’s vocab), the faster you can get the conversation back on track and leave the bike shed unpainted.
Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword
What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.
Last, but not least, the one with the best name. More professionally described as “Alder’s Razor,” unless you’re a professional philosopher, this is a lesson we can all remember (especially at family gatherings…) Like the best of the eponymous laws, it seems obvious when written out.
The core of this is what makes the best startups succeed and the biggest corporations flounder – only spend time on projects that you can test AND figure out the fastest way to test those assumptions. Success in projects, in all types of companies and all areas in life, relies on first understanding:
- What is it that we’re unsure of?
- How can we execute a test to become sure?
- Do it. Then repeat on the next thing where you’re uncertain.
Call it agile. Call it The Startup Way. Whatever you call it, just avoid debating what can’t get proven. That is, of course, assuming you’re not a professional philosopher.
I’d love to keep chatting about these! Either keep the conversation going in the comments below or contact me directly. Check back soon for my next four favorite eponymous laws!