The 80/20 rule
A few causes create most of the trouble. Find them first.
The short film
Most of a problem usually comes from a small number of causes.
Captions are on by default. You can turn them off in the player.
Complete video transcript
Picture a business where the phone keeps ringing with callbacks. Each one feels urgent, so you fix whichever one you heard about last.
Try this instead. For a month, each time a customer calls back, make one tally mark next to its cause. Now sort the rows, largest first.
The pattern is hard to miss. Two causes make up most of the pile. That's the 80/20 rule. Most of a problem usually comes from a small number of causes.
And the call you heard about last? A billing question. Recent, but small.
So put the effort where most of the pile is. If callbacks start with job details that never reached the crew, a better intake checklist will do more than any amount of apologizing. Then count again. See whether the pile shrank, and pick the next one.
Two cautions. The split is rarely exactly 80/20. The point is that causes are uneven. And common isn't always costly. A rare problem can do more damage, so weigh the cost, not just the count.
Count the callbacks for a month. Sort them by cause.
Two causes make up most of the pile. Start there, not with the long tail.
The vital fewEverything else
In one sentence
Most of a problem usually comes from a small number of causes, so count before you fix.
Use it when
- Everything feels urgent and you can't tell where to start.
- You keep fixing problems that come back anyway.
- Complaints, callbacks or redo work keep piling up.
How to use it
- Pick one problemCallbacks, redo work, late jobs. Something that repeats.
- Count by causeA tally sheet for a few weeks is enough.
- SortLargest cause first, smallest last.
- Fix the top onePut your effort where most of the pile is.
- Count againSee whether the pile shrank, then pick the next.
In a service business
Fix the cause behind most of the calls, not the one you heard about last.
The loudest complaint is often the most recent one, not the most common. A simple tally shows the difference. If most callbacks start with job details that never made it to the crew, a better intake checklist will do more than any amount of apologizing.
Where it stops being useful
Where it comes from
In the 1890s the economist Vilfredo Pareto noticed that a small share of people held most of the land in Italy. Quality pioneer Joseph M. Juran later turned the pattern into a working tool, built around telling the vital few causes apart from the trivial many. This explainer is our own summary.