Management

Business concepts: When we discuss trivial matters instead of important ones

Black-and-white photo of bike leaning up against small shed

The Law of Triviality describes how people often waste time focusing on small things instead of the important ones. We might be meeting to approve plans for a nuclear power plant, but we spend most of the time arguing about what color to paint the bike shed.

Put something on the back burner

When you put something on the back burner, you put it on hold to deal with at a later time. You could put something on the back burner because it’s not important, it’s not urgent, or you just don’t have the time or resources to deal with it at the moment. Regardless of the reason, if you put something on the back burner, you have judged it to be low priority.