I just did a search and this has to be one of the most posted Wikipedia pages on HN of all time - but I suspect it's because we all live it daily and giving it a name makes it manageable. When you see it happening, you can say "hey, can we please stop wasting time succumbing to the Law of Triviality and instead work on something that actually matters?"<p>The two areas this crops up for me in the ship design and construction industry:<p>1.) Inspectors. Whether security inspectors, ship production inspectors, whatever - they must "find" something wrong, or they're not doing their job. And you must spend time addressing it or you won't get certified.<p>2.) Probably more frustrating - in big meetings, the truly challenging problems get glossed over (like a high likelihood of propeller cavitation at the intended ship design speed), but we spend an hour and a half talking about where we should put deck tie-down fittings to secure equipment. The latter is something everyone in the meeting can understand, regardless of expertise, but it really is very simple to work out and doesn't necessitate the cost of $xxK/hr churning on the topic.<p>Anyway, this was my first time seeing this post, so thanks for the repost.