Management and Life

Thou shalt not fear the 80% The 80-20 rule also known as the Pareto principle is sighted in many time management and general management books as an effective guide for choosing the focus areas. The principle states that 80% of results or effects are caused by 20% of the causes. For e.g. 80 % of sales come from 20% customers; 80% of problems are caused by 20% of causes, 80% of the costs can be attributed to 20% items, so on and so forth. The rule is very simple, straight forward and through basic anecdotal evidence and intuitive logic, it appears to be universally applicable. Once understood and applied effectively, the rule holds the promise to improve effectiveness and efficiency significantly. I believe that this rule should be vigorously applied to all domains of personal and public life. However, like all principles, there are a few words of caution or danger zones worth noting. The first one, as pointed by James P. Lewis in his book on Project Management, points at the bal...