Parkinson's Law may be the greatest business book of all time. If you like business books and you haven't read it you're missing out on one of the true classics of the genre.

http://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-C-Northcote-Parkinson/d...

This is one of Parkinson’s Laws: "perfection of planned layout is only achieved by institutions on the point of collapse."

In the chapter "Plans and Plants" of "Parkinson's Law" (see http://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-Cyril-Northcote-Parkins... ) he makes the point that

"During a period of exciting discovery or progress there is no time to plan the perfect headquarters. The time for that comes later, when all the important work has been done. Perfection, we know, is finality; and finality is death."

Parkinson reviews a number of headquarters buildings: League of Nations, Pentagon, St. Peter’s Basilica, Versailles,.... He concludes that their completion marked the sunset of the organizations that they were intended to house.