It was in the chapter "High finanace or the Point of Vanishing Interest" in "Parkinson's Law" and the funding decisions were:
- £10,000,000 atomic power plant -- minimal debate (2.5 minutes).
- £350 bike shed -- moderate debate (45 minutes).
- £21 for coffee at a meeting -- extreme and devisive debate
since everyone knows about coffee (1h15m).
Anwyay, bikeshedding is the word that ended up in the
lexicon, maybe because "coffee-arguing" or "atomic-plant-not-debating" just don't work as well :)
