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20% of team members can communicate 80% of problem definition, solutions 80% of team members can only communicate effectively 20% of the time 20% of the vo

by vjust 4y ago

20% of team members can communicate 80% of problem definition, solutions 80% of team members can only communicate effectively 20% of the time 20% of the volume of communications (meetings, emails, docs) communicates properly 80% content. 80% of the meetings are redundant. 80% of the money spent on a project has 20% ROI. after a while this stops making sense.

reidjs 4y ago
I always fall into this infinite depth problem when I start thinking of the Pareto principle too. I resolve it by identifying the principle as a soft guideline for prioritizing work, not as an objective truth of everything
nonameiguess 4y ago
You can please 80% of the people 20% of the time, or you can please 20% of the people 80% of the time, but you can't please 80% of the people 80% of the time.
mikkergp 4y ago
Are you saying the statements you made aren't true?
- marcosdumay 4y ago
  Those ratios probably vary widely on the real world. Many are probably near 80%/20%, while a few may be around 99.9%/0.1% or 50%/50%. As you get more data points, your generalization fails more and more often, and some failures are severe, adding more planning risk than everything else added. Or, in other words, the rule works most of the time. And you can rely on it at all.
- bryanrasmussen 4y ago
  there is a common conceit that if you repeat a word often enough it stops making sense, but in this case the statements are, as often is the case with percentages regarding tech, meant to sound meaningful but are probably not as clear as they could be.
bastijn 4y ago
80% of comments on HN are only read by 20% of its users. 80% of comments read by HN users are only interesting to 20% of the users who read them. 20% of beer drinkers consume 80% of beer drunk 20% of people snoozes 80% of alarms 80% of Pareto Principle jokes are amusing only 20% of the time The thing with Pareto is that it always sounds right, no matter if it's true.
- bsilvereagle 4y ago
  > 80% of comments on HN are only read by 20% of its users. Some interesting comments about the 1% rule and HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9219581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9219581

by vjust 4y ago

reidjs 4y ago

I always fall into this infinite depth problem when I start thinking of the Pareto principle too. I resolve it by identifying the principle as a soft guideline for prioritizing work, not as an objective truth of everything

nonameiguess 4y ago

You can please 80% of the people 20% of the time, or you can please 20% of the people 80% of the time, but you can't please 80% of the people 80% of the time.

mikkergp 4y ago

Are you saying the statements you made aren't true?

marcosdumay 4y ago
Those ratios probably vary widely on the real world. Many are probably near 80%/20%, while a few may be around 99.9%/0.1% or 50%/50%. As you get more data points, your generalization fails more and more often, and some failures are severe, adding more planning risk than everything else added. Or, in other words, the rule works most of the time. And you can rely on it at all.
bryanrasmussen 4y ago
there is a common conceit that if you repeat a word often enough it stops making sense, but in this case the statements are, as often is the case with percentages regarding tech, meant to sound meaningful but are probably not as clear as they could be.

bastijn 4y ago

80% of comments on HN are only read by 20% of its users. 80% of comments read by HN users are only interesting to 20% of the users who read them. 20% of beer drinkers consume 80% of beer drunk 20% of people snoozes 80% of alarms 80% of Pareto Principle jokes are amusing only 20% of the time The thing with Pareto is that it always sounds right, no matter if it's true.

bsilvereagle 4y ago
> 80% of comments on HN are only read by 20% of its users. Some interesting comments about the 1% rule and HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9219581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9219581