Parkinson's "law of triviality" describes how people will scrutinize trivial items more closely than important and complicated items.
Also known as the bicycle-shed example, Parkinson demonstrated this by contrasting the triviality of the cost of building a bike shed to building an atomic reactor. The great cost and complexity of the reactor is beyond what an average person can understand but, everyone can visualize a cheap, simple bicycle shed, so planning one can result in endless discussions because everyone involved wants to add a touch and show personal contribution.
The law has been applied to software development and other activities.