you’re not an expert in nuclear reactor design, you’re probably not going to probe deeply into the details, and you’re likely to accept the recommendations of the expert engineers. Yet if they were to ask you what color they should paint the bike shed outside the nuclear reactor, a large discussion would ensue, with each committee member attempting to add value and express their opinion. Bikeshedding, therefore, is the tendency for nonexperts in charge to expend a lot of calories on unimportant details, because they lack the context to make the most important decisions.
