You have probably heard of Murphy’s Law - Anything that can go wrong, will.  How about Finagle’s corrollary:  Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and at the worst possible time. I always think of this as the Law of Audio-Visual presentations, because it usually goes into effect when you’re giving a presentation. 

How about Parkinson’s Law:  The amount of work to be done expands to fill the time of the people available to do it.   My conclusion:  You can always cut back on employees, down to 1, of course.

Then there’s Hofstadter’s Law:  Things always take longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.  Very true! Murray’s (my) corollary:  And things always cost twice as much as you expect.  This is why you plan for things taking longer and costing more.  Overestimate expenses and underestimate sales, and you might come out with a decent budget. 

Another famous principle that I have seen quite often is called the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule: For many phenomena, 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes.   If you find the 20% of patients, for example, who provide the 80% of your income, you can concentrate on them and not worry about the rest.  Lots of other examples of this one:  For example, in marketing, 20% of your marketing effort produced 80% of the results.  Find the 20% that is working best and cut out the rest. 

Here are some great laws everyone should be pleased about: 

 Littlewood’s Law — Individuals can expect miracles to happen to them at the rate of about one per month. Coined by Professor John Edensor Littlewood.

Clarke’s Second law: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little ways past them into the impossible. Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer.