The Pareto Principle
Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. An often used example is, that in companies, 80% of the revenue often comes from only 20% of the products.
The principle is named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first observed this pattern in 1896 when he found that approximately 80% of Italy's land was owned by 20% of its population. While studying gardens, he also noticed that approximately 80% of his peas came from 20% of his pea pods. In the 1940s, management consultant Joseph M. Juran expanded on Pareto's observation and coined the terms "vital few and trivial many".
Today, the principle is widely applied across various fields, from business management and economics to software development and time management. However, it can also be applied to your work in academia.
Note that the numbers don't have to be 80 and 20. They don't even have to sum up to 100, as they are referring to completely different units (e.g., revenue and number of products). The more general idea is that often a smaller number of cases have a large (positive or negative) impact. This means if we identify these small number of cases, the Pareto Principle can help us focus on the right things, either to do more of the good things or to avoid more of the bad things.
Taking the Pareto Principle into consideration, you will be able to do more with less work!
Most people find these patterns through a lot of years of experience (e.g., writing a lot of papers, submitting a lot of proposals, given a lot of lectures, etc.). However, you can speed up your learning, if you are actively looking for these relationships.
Here are a few ways you can think about the Pareto Principle in your academic work.
Teaching
If you want to improve your lecture, you don't have to completely change every single slide. Instead try to identify the ones that lead to the most confusion. Every course has a part that is harder to understand and students are struggling with it. Try to understand which part it is. Maybe in the exams you see a subset of questions only a few students are able to answer correctly. Have a look at your slides and the way you deliver them.
Tip: You can ask also specific questions in the end-of-course questionnaires. Make sure you don't ask leading questions.
Note that there are a (typically very low) number of students that are quite vocal, e.g., they ask the most questions or they are the ones that are actually filling out the feedback sheet. Make sure you don't completely change the way you teach because of them. The majority, especially in large classes, are silent and changes might negatively impact them. Be clever about finding out what students really need. It's not always what they ask for!
Presentations
Giving a presentation is a special case of teaching. However, you have much less time. This is especially true for a short 15-minute presentation or if you present your work in a spotlight session, which often is just a few minutes. You can only focus on the important 20%.
This means you have to focus on the core ideas. Ask yourself, what does the audience need to understand about my work. The art is getting rid of all the details without compromising the underlying ideas. Often this means you only have time to excite and inspire your audience, instead of informing them. The goal is to get people interested in your work (especially for the spotlight session) rather than provide all the details.
Tip: If you have recurring questions about details in your talks, but there is not enough time to explain all the details, you can add some supplementary slides that you can pull up in the Q&A section afterwards (see my blog post about presentations).
Supervising Students
If you have supervised a lot of students, you might have heard the same questions over and over again. While every PhD is very different (depending on the project, the character of the people involved, etc.), there are still common patterns. If you are aware of the 20% questions that constitute 80% of the worries, then you can anticipate them. You can guide your students much better by preparing them.
Tip: If you just start out supervising, write down recurrent questions that your students have. This will help you to identify your 20% early on.
Tip: I get the same questions about a particular part of my research (physical reservoir computing). As a result, I have put together a reading list for people to start out. I also started to develop some slides to have a recorded talk that will hopefully help people to grasp the basics. By the way, this is also a great way to engage people with your research by making it as accessible as possible.
Writing Articles and Proposals
When writing scientific articles you might be able to see recurring comments from reviewers. Are they always complaining about the lack of clarity in the methodology? Are they asking for better figures? Are they not convinced of the novelty? This kind of feedback can be extremely valuable. If you see a common pattern, try to improve exactly there. Try to understand what is lacking. Maybe your English skills aren't up to par. Try to learn more about how to write well. Improve your grammar, your vocabulary.
Tip: There are also great podcasts on this topic. I particularily like Grammar Girl. Her episodes are very short and focused, and always with great examples.
Learning Something New
When embarking on learning something new, perfection isn't a prerequisite for practical application. Take language learning, for instance: you only need a surprisingly small vocabulary — estimates suggest around 800 to 1,000 words or expressions — to discuss nearly any topic. Similarly, in grammar, you'll find yourself using the Present, Past, and Perfect tenses far more often than, say, the Conditional. Mastering this key 20% can significantly speed up your learning process.
Tip: When teaching, it’s your job to identify the vital 20%. Avoid overwhelming your students with less frequently used elements. Remember, your role as an educator involves guiding students through what's most essential. Concentrate your efforts on this critical segment to maximize learning efficiency.
Final Thoughts
When you start looking, the Pareto Principle shows up everywhere. Try to look for it. It can help you to identify the most important tasks you should focus on. They are the ones that provide the most leverage. They have the most impact. This is also true the other way around. Avoid tasks that don’t give you leverage as much as possible. They often show up as a sneaky way to feel busy, but you are actually just procrastinating.
Work Smart and be Remarkable!
Helmut
