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 balancing of priorities vs. the human factors such as motivation. A problem solving team should ideally identify and tackle the most critical causes. However, it is very likely that the most critical causes are also the most difficult to deal with or solve. The impact of taking up ‘unsolvable’ or herculean problems upfront can be quite hard on an individual or team’s morale. Hence, a sense of balance between attacking the most significant of problems and achieve quick wins is essential.

The other interesting observation is that one might get carried away to take out only the relevant 20% factors. Given a choice, that is what everyone would want, keep on the 20% good causes and leave the rest. However that reminds one of an old joke where a person frustrated about being in the last compartment of a train and not seeing many platforms suggested to the railway authorities that either remove all last compartments or if you must have them, keep them in the middle.

Whilst one may want only 20% of the relevant factors, one has to accept the presence of the other 80% and develop the patience and fortitude to deal with them.

I have personally observed that in any ordinary day or initiative, there are only a handful of moments or occasions are the ‘high points’ or the ‘productive moments’. And yet one needs to live through the full day with a lot of patience and fortitude. A lot of times, how one lives the 80% of the project time determines how well one is able to capitalize on the 20% of the opportune or the productive time. If one waits and whiles away time in anticipation of the ‘good’ time; the good times may not be as rewarding or as satisfying.

Hence the message is to know the good (20%) and the not so good (80%) moments, capitalize on the good ones but not shy away from the 80% of mundane ones. For it is the 80% population which provides the promise and probability of discovering the rest 20% !!

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