“80/20 Rule” by Richard Koch -The secret of achieving more with less - Book Review

 “Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many”

    I completed reading a book called “80/20 Rule” by Richard Koch and thought it would be useful to share the review. This book is about how to achieve more with less. The 80/20 principle reveals how you can increase your productivity by getting you in the mindset that not all inputs produce equal amount of outputs.

 

The Pareto Principle (the law of the vital few or the principle of factor sparsity): Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noted the 80/20 connection while at the University of Lausanne in 1896. Pareto showed that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

Some other examples are, in the US, the top 20% of earners have paid roughly 80-90% of Federal income taxes. Microsoft noted that by fixing the top 20% of the most-reported bugs, 80% of the related errors and crashes in a given system would be eliminated. In sports, roughly 20% of the exercises and habits have 80% of the impact. In Occupational health and safety 20% of the hazards account for 80% of the injuries, and by categorizing hazards, safety professionals can target those 20% of the hazards that cause 80% of the injuries or accidents.

 

Lessons learned

1. 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. The imbalance shows that 80% of what you accomplish in your work results from 20% of the time you devote to it.
2. Target your strengths which gives you 80% of results and maximize your output taking advantage of the imbalance in nature.
3. Simple is Beautiful- What is most simple and standardised is infinitely more productive and cost-effective than what is complex. Simplification by eliminating unprofitable activities.

 

We let things happen to us instead of moulding our own lives. Everyone can accomplish something valuable. We can succeed, not with effort, but by first discovering what the appropriate thing to accomplish is. You can be a winner if you choose the right competition, the right team and the right method.

 

This is summary of half a book. Please the read the book to know the rest.