In the 1950s, a British historian named C. Northcote Parkinson noticed something strange. A committee was asked to approve two projects: a nuclear power plant and a bike shed for employees.
The nuclear plant—a complex, expensive, potentially dangerous project—was approved in ten minutes. Nobody understood it well enough to argue.
The bike shed sparked hours of heated debate. Everyone had opinions about the color, the location, the size. It was simple enough that anyone could contribute.
This is Parkinson’s Law of Triviality. We spend the most time on the least important things—because they’re easy to understand and argue about.
And if you run a Shopify store, you’re probably doing this right now.
The E-commerce Version of the Bike Shed
Think about your last month of “work” on your store. How much time went to these things:
- Debating the color of the Add to Cart button
- Tweaking the logo for the fifth time
- Switching themes because the current one “doesn’t feel right”
- Arguing whether the button should say “Buy Now” or “Add to Bag”
- Redesigning the homepage banner
Now compare that to time spent on these:
- Fixing why 97% of visitors leave without buying
- Building an email sequence that brings customers back
- Figuring out why your best product has a 40% return rate
- Understanding which traffic actually converts
- Reducing checkout abandonment
The first list is easy. Everyone has an opinion on colors and fonts. These discussions feel productive because you’re talking about your store.
The second list is hard. It requires digging into data, admitting problems, and making uncomfortable changes. So we avoid it—by staying busy with bike sheds.
Why We Do This
Bikeshedding isn’t laziness. It’s a psychological defense mechanism. Understanding why helps you catch yourself doing it.
Complexity Is Scary
Everyone can have an opinion on button colors. Not everyone can discuss server-side rendering, attribution models, or customer lifetime value calculations.
When something is complex, we feel inadequate. We don’t want to look stupid asking basic questions. So we stay in territory where we feel competent—even if that territory doesn’t matter.
The Illusion of Productivity
A two-hour meeting about your homepage banner feels like work. You’re discussing. You’re deciding. You’re making changes.
But did that meeting move revenue? Probably not. It was activity without impact—the most dangerous kind because it feels satisfying while accomplishing nothing.
Fear of the Real Problem
Sometimes we bikeshed because the actual problem is terrifying. Your business model might be broken. Your product-market fit might be off. Your margins might be unsustainable.
Facing those truths is painful. It’s much easier to change your theme and hope that fixes things.
Signs You’re Bikeshedding Your Store
Here’s how to recognize when you’ve fallen into the trap.
The Never-Ending Logo Project
If you’ve spent more than a few hours total on logo tweaks this year, something is wrong. Your customers don’t care about your logo nearly as much as you think. They care about whether your product solves their problem.
Theme Hopping
You’ve changed Shopify themes three times this year. Each time felt like a fresh start. Each time, sales stayed the same.
Theme hopping is retail therapy for store owners. It feels like progress. It’s not. The problem usually isn’t the theme—it’s the offer, the traffic, or the trust signals.
Button Copy Wars
Your team spent a week debating “Buy Now” versus “Add to Cart” versus “Get Yours.” No one suggested running an A/B test to let data decide. It was all opinions.
When debates about tiny copy changes go on for days without testing, you’re bikeshedding.
The Endless Homepage Redesign
You’ve redesigned your homepage four times. Each version looked “better.” Conversion rates didn’t change.
Most visitors don’t even see your homepage. They land on product pages from ads or search. Your homepage might be the biggest bike shed in your store.
The Eisenhower Matrix for Shopify
President Eisenhower had a framework for prioritizing tasks. It works perfectly for e-commerce.
| Urgent | Not Urgent | |
|---|---|---|
| Important | Site crashes, payment failures, major bugs | Email flows, SEO, retention strategy, LTV optimization |
| Not Important | Answering every DM instantly, minor holiday banners | Button colors, logo tweaks, font discussions |
Urgent + Important: Do Now
Your site is down. Your payment processor failed. A major bug is breaking checkout. These need immediate attention.
Not Urgent + Important: Schedule It
This is where the money is. Building email automations. Fixing conversion problems. Improving retention. Optimizing your best products.
This stuff isn’t on fire, so it keeps getting pushed back. But it’s where real growth comes from. Block time for it every week.
Urgent + Not Important: Delegate or Batch
Someone’s asking about their order in Instagram DMs. A minor holiday is coming and you “should” update the banner.
These feel urgent but don’t drive growth. Batch them into specific time slots. Don’t let them interrupt important work.
Not Urgent + Not Important: Stop Doing This
The color of the bike shed. Logo tweaks. Font debates. Theme browsing.
Either make a fast decision and move on, or just don’t do it. Your customers won’t notice either way.
How to Escape the Triviality Trap
Here are practical ways to catch yourself bikeshedding and refocus on what matters.
Let Data Decide
When a debate about small things starts, change the question. Instead of “Which color is better?” ask “How do we test this?”
Run an A/B test. Let customer behavior decide. This ends debates instantly and shifts energy to things that can’t be tested—strategy, positioning, product development.
Set Time Limits
Any decision about aesthetics gets 15 minutes maximum. If you can’t decide in 15 minutes, flip a coin. The stakes are too low to justify more time.
Save the long discussions for decisions that actually affect revenue.
Ship to Learn
Imperfect action beats perfect procrastination. Launch the “good enough” version. See what happens. Fix what’s actually broken instead of what might be broken.
Most things you debate endlessly won’t matter once they’re live. Customers will show you what actually needs fixing.
Focus on the Big Rocks
Every e-commerce business comes down to three things: getting people to your store (Acquisition), getting them to buy (Conversion), and getting them to come back (Retention).
Before you start any task, ask: Does this improve acquisition, conversion, or retention? If the answer is no—or “maybe a tiny bit”—it’s probably a bike shed.
Removing Decision Fatigue
One reason we bikeshed on small things: we’ve used up our decision-making energy on them, leaving nothing for big choices.
Consider discount management. Many store owners spend hours creating manual codes, worrying about leaks, deciding when to turn promotions on and off. These are low-stakes decisions that drain high-stakes energy.
Growth Suite automates the complex logic of who gets a discount and when. Instead of manually managing promotional campaigns—a classic bikeshedding activity that feels important but rarely moves the needle—you can set the strategy once and let the system handle execution. This frees your mental energy for decisions that actually require your judgment.
The Weekly Audit
Every week, look at your to-do list and your calendar. Count two things:
- Nuclear Reactors: Tasks that directly drive revenue, fix real problems, or build sustainable growth
- Bike Sheds: Tasks about aesthetics, minor tweaks, or things only you will notice
If your bike shed count is higher than your nuclear reactor count, you have a problem. You’re busy but not productive. You’re working hard but not moving forward.
Rebalance ruthlessly. Push the bike sheds to a “maybe someday” list. Block real time for the reactors.
Key Takeaways
- Parkinson’s Law of Triviality is everywhere — We spend the most time on the least important things because they’re easy to discuss
- Bikeshedding feels productive but isn’t — Hours of debate about button colors won’t move revenue
- Complex problems get avoided — We hide from scary strategic issues by staying busy with safe aesthetic ones
- Watch for the warning signs — Logo obsession, theme hopping, endless copy debates, and homepage redesigns
- Use the Eisenhower Matrix — Prioritize by importance, not just urgency
- Let data end debates — Test instead of arguing about opinions
- Focus on the big three — Acquisition, Conversion, Retention. Everything else is probably a bike shed
Your customers don’t care about the shed. They care about whether your product solves their problem and whether buying from you is easy. Every minute you spend on trivial decisions is a minute not spent on what actually matters. Look at your task list right now. How many nuclear reactors? How many bike sheds?
