🚲 Bikeshedding 101

Quick update before we start - I’m running a short survey to determine the focus of this newsletter going forward, please share your thoughts here -

Now, onto Bikeshedding 101 -

Bikeshedding (also known as the Law of Triviality) is a fascinating cognitive bias that affects group decision-making processes.

What is Bikeshedding?

Imagine a fictional committee tasked with approving plans for a nuclear power plant.

The committee spends minimal time discussing the complex, technical aspects of the nuclear reactor (which few understood deeply), but devotes extensive time debating the materials, design, and dimensions of the staff bicycle shed—a trivial component that everyone felt qualified to have an opinion about.

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How Bikeshedding Works?

At its core, bikeshedding occurs when a group gives disproportionate attention to trivial issues while neglecting more complex, important matters. This happens because:

1. Accessibility of Opinion - Simple topics allow everyone to participate and feel knowledgeable.

2. Cognitive Comfort - People gravitate toward discussions where they feel competent and avoid those where they feel out of their depth.

3. Visibility of Contribution - It's easier to demonstrate engagement and value by commenting on simple matters.

4. Low Stakes - Less complex issues often have lower perceived risk, making people more comfortable expressing strong opinions.

5. Immediate Gratification - Resolving simple issues provides a sense of progress and accomplishment.

Common Examples of Bikeshedding

Bikeshedding appears in numerous contexts:

• Corporate Meetings - A one-hour meeting spends 5 minutes on strategic direction but 45 minutes debating the color scheme of a PowerPoint presentation.

• Software Development - Teams spend more time discussing naming conventions or UI colors than core architecture decisions.

• Academic Committees - Lengthy debate over the wording of a single sentence in a policy while larger structural issues receive cursory attention.

Here’s a quick video of bikeshedding in the world of software engineering -

How to Combat Bikeshedding?

To minimize this tendency in group settings:

1. Time-box discussions - Allocate time proportionate to the importance of each topic.

2. Prioritize agenda items - Address complex, important issues first when energy and attention are highest.

3. Establish decision criteria - Create objective frameworks for evaluating the importance of topics.

4. Delegate trivial decisions - Assign less significant matters to individuals rather than discussing them in group settings.

5. Name it when you see it - Simply identifying "This feels like bikeshedding" can help redirect focus.

6. Separate discussions - Create different forums for strategic versus tactical concerns.

There’s a cool website dedicated to this cognitive bias -

The Deeper Significance

Bikeshedding reveals important aspects of human psychology:

• We naturally seek areas where we can contribute confidently

• We avoid cognitive strain when possible

• We derive satisfaction from resolution, even of minor issues

• Status and visibility concerns often drive our participation patterns

Understanding this tendency helps explain why organizations sometimes struggle with maintaining focus on what truly matters, and why trivial concerns can consume disproportionate resources.

Do let me know what you think of the idea of bikeshedding, and would you like us to cover more such topics in this newsletter.

That’s it for today.

See you next week 👋

Cheers,

Ayush & Aditi