From Wikipedia: Parkinson's Law of Triviality (also known as the bicycle shed example, and by the expression colour of the bikeshed) is C. Northcote Parkinson's 1957 argument that organisations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.
The Board of Trustees will approve the building of a nuclear power plant without much discussion because the complexity of the engineering issues are beyond them and they assume others have struggled over the details. However, the approval of the construction of a bike shed (a small project anyone can do over the course of a weekend) will engender endless discussion about materials and details.
See also http://bikeshed.com
