What is the 80/20 Rule?

The 80/20 Rule, as defined by Wikipedia:

The principle was suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran. It was named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy was received by 20% of the Italian population. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes.

Six things you should know about the 80/20 Rule:

• The 80/20 Rule implies that 80% of your efforts produces 20% of your results --- our team proposes this is "not good."

• The 80/20 Rule also implies that 80% of your results comes from 20% of your efforts --- our team proposes "if this is true, harness it!"

• The 80/20 Rule is not a measurement adding up to 100% of anything. The rule could have been 80/30 or 95/20 or any other variation.

• The 80/20 Rule was mistakenly named after Pareto, yet it is still called "The Pareto Principle" in most circles.

• The 80/20 Rule has been misapplied over the past few decades -- the 80/20 Rule is actually the phenomenon that in any population which contributes to a common effect, a relative few of the contributors account for the bulk of the effect.

• The 80/20 Rule as we know it, can be broken!