The 80/20 rule is also known as the Pareto principle or the law of the vital few, which basically means that in many events 80% of the effects come ...AboutMePublishatPM101ProductTipsAgileProgramTipsDesignCodingNewsletterHowYouCanApplythe80/20RuleinYourLifeandWorkThaisaFernandesFollowMar30,2020·7minreadPhotobyLukasBlazekonUnsplashIhavealwaysbeenfascinatedbythe80/20rule.Atthesametime,Ididn’tknowhowtoapplyitinmylife.LastyearIreadthe80/20Principle,andthisbookopenedmyeyesalittlemoreandgavemeabettersenseofhowtoapplythe80/20ruleinmyprofessionallife.“Howto80/20yourwork:(1)Makealistofthe10thingsyouspendthemosttimeon.(2)Circlethetwothattrulydriveyourresults.Domoreofthose.(3)Lookattheothers.Eliminateruthlessly.Automateoroutsourcewhatyoucan.Presspauseontherest.(4)Repeat”—JamesClearTheParetoprincipleThe80/20ruleisalsoknownastheParetoprincipleorthelawofthevitalfew,whichbasicallymeansthatinmanyevents80%oftheeffectscomefrom20%ofthecauses.TheParetoprinciplenamecamefromtheItalianeconomistVilfredoParetowhodiscoveredtheprincipleafterrealizingthatapproximately80%ofthelandinItalywasownedby20%ofthepopulation,andhekeptobservingthesamepatterninotherdifferentsituations.VilfredoFedericoDamasoParetowasborninItalyin1848andbecameanimportantphilosopherandeconomist.Afterhisrealizationofthe80/20pattern,Paretostartedtothinkaboutunevendistributionsanddiscoveredthatdifferentindustriesalsofollowedthesamepatternwhenthegeneralizationbecameauniversaltruth.TheParetoprincipleor80/20ruleistheuniversaltruthabouttheimbalanceofinputsandoutputs.Youdon’tneedtocreatemathematicalformulas,dosomecomplexmath,orunderstandstatisticstoleveragethe80/20frameworkandstartusingitinyourdailywork.Let’salsokeepinmindthe80%and20%arejustindicators.It’samisconceptionthatthenumbersshouldalwaysbearound80and20.Theydonotnecessarilyneedto,thesenumbersarejustabaseline.Themainpointistofindthesmallthingsthatgiveyouthebiggestresults.The80/20ruleisaguidethatwillhelpusunderstandtypicaldistributionsnotmatterwhatthenumbersare.Thepointisn’tther