laws/theories/effects wsc'26

NOT scitech stuff

endowed progress effect

people are more likely to finish smth that is partially completed for them

zeigarnik effect

if you stop something halfway you remember it better

lame duck theory

an outgoing politician has less influence over the government

hawthorne effect

people alter their behavior because they know they are being watched

hofstadter’s law

things take longer than you expect, even when you account for hofstadter’s law

the 90-90 law

first 90% of time you do 90% of the work, the last 10% of work takes another 90% of time

conway’s law

output is a product of the internal structures of the organizations that build them

putt’s law

people manage what they don’t understand and understand what they don’t manage

illich’s law

you need to take breaks after 90-120 min of work

laborit’s law

people take the path of least resistance

brook’s law

adding more manpower can make things actually take more time

pareto principle

80% of __ is done/with 20% of people/the population

doorway effect

if you walk through a doorway there is a higher probability you are going to end up forgetting details

braess’s paradox

adding more roads can actually make traffic worse

dichotomy paradox

an object has to finish an infinite number of tasks to finish anything

achilles and the tortoise paradox

if the tortoise starts in front of achilles, anytime achilles gets to the position the tortoise was at, then the tortoise would have moved so achilles could never catch up to the tortoise

arrow paradox

at an instantaneous point a moving object doesn’t seem like it is moving so how is it moving overall?

stadium paradox/dashing rows paradox

lines going right/left seem to go faster than each other although all three lines are moving at the same exact speed

amara’s law

we are really bad at predicting