Every meeting planner knows that Murphy's Law--whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, and usually in the most exasperating way--is alive and kicking. But for those among us who are better at math than I, there's actually a formula that can help you beat Mr. Murphy at his game:
((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10))
Where U=urgency, C=complexity, I=importance, S=skill, F=frequency, and A=aggravation (set at 0.7 by experts after a poll)
- Project psychologist Dr David Lewis said: "The lesson from this is that, to cut the seemingly unbeatable Murphy's Law gremlins down to size, you need to change one of the elements in the equation.
"So, if you haven't got the skill to do something important, leave it alone. If something is urgent or complex, find a simple way to do it. If something going wrong will particularly aggravate you, make certain you know how to do it."
But he added a note of caution: "There is, of course, a Sod's Law factor to the equation. If you judge your ratings wrongly, you might become too optimistic - and calamity will strike."
Now can they come up with a way to do away with the phenomenon where the second I say, "Gee, I can't believe I haven't seen a single mosquito today," a bloodthirsty, whining cloud descends on my head, or as soon as I comment on how light the traffic is, it comes to a screeching halt?
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