How to be more productive with the 80/20 rule
The 80/20 rule refers to a phenomenon that states that approximately 80% of the results come from 20% of the actions. In other words, a small percentage of causes have a huge effect. This concept is great, because it can help identify which initiatives you need to prioritize to achieve the greatest impact.
Vilfredo Federico Pareto, an Italian economist and philosopher, noted that 80% of the land in Italy was held by only 20% of the people. The same was true for the plants in his garden, since 80% of the fruit was grown by 20% of his plants.
This is a pervasive phenomenon that can be seen in economics, business, time management, and even sports… in just about every walk of life.
This rule can be useful for prioritizing daily tasks.
The purpose is to complete 20% of the daily tasks and achieve 80% of the impact that can be generated on that day. To achieve better results, it’s important to highlight which are the tasks with the greatest impact on the work crew and focus on them.
Also, with the 80/20 rule, you can make better decisions during the troubleshooting process. This is the process:
- Identify equipment problems; that is, those that are to be resolved with this decision-making process.
- Determine the causes of these problems. By questioning the origin of problems, it is easier to find possible solutions.
- Classify problems into related groups. It could turn out that one solution is being used on several of them.
- Assign a value to each problem based on its impact on the business. This can indicate importance.
- Develop a plan to focus on issues that occur in the top 20%. The idea is that a solution can solve several problems. Based on the values assigned to each, it will be calculated which ones are in the top 20%. The 80/20 rule can also help increase metrics in less time by prioritizing initiatives in the right order.
- Clear priorities.
- Greater daily productivity.
- Ability to divide work into groups of simpler tasks.
- More focused strategy.
The goal is to focus effort on a specific aspect of the job for greater impact. 100% effort must be used in that 20% to achieve 80% of the results
