The Pareto Rule

The Pareto 80/20 Rule is commonly used (and ignored at considerable cost) in many aspects of organizational and business management. The principle is extremely helpful in bringing swift and easy clarity to complex situations and problems, especially when deciding where to focus effort and resources.
Here are some examples of Pareto's Law as it applies to various situations. According to the Pareto Principle, it will generally the case (broadly - remember it's a guide not a scientific certainty), that within any given scenario or system or organisation:
• 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of efforts
• 80 percent of activity will require 20 percent of resources
• 80 percent of usage is by 20 percent of users
• 80 percent of revenue comes from 20 percent of customers
• 80 percent of problems come from 20 percent of causes
• 80 percent of profit comes from 20 percent of the product range
• 80 percent of complaints come from 20 percent of customers
• 80 percent of sales will come from 20 percent of sales people
• 80 percent of work absence is due to 20 percent of staff
• and so on..
Remember for any particular situation the precise ratio can and probably will be different to 80:20, but the principle will apply nevertheless, and in many cases the actual ratio will not be far away from the 80:20 general rule.

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