Meetings suck. But they don't have to.

The 80-20 Rule

by John J. Walters

Ever heard of the 80-20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle?  If you have: good, that’ll save me some time.  If you haven’t: go read up on it.  It will kinda-sorta blow your mind.

I have heard all sorts of different interpretations for the 80-20 rule in my life.  The first one I heard was that 20% of the workers at a company do 80% of the work, and since then I have felt this to be painfully true at each and every one of my jobs.  I have also heard two more interpretations that make some sense.

First, that 80% of a product’s value is realized with the first 20% of effort.  I have found this to be especially true when I write.  I get nearly everything out during the first go-around; then I can spend as much time as I want editing.  But the final product is never that much better than the original draft.

Second, that 80% of everything is crap.  This one is catchier, but I am still a little wary of it.  It may be true and it may not be — but I think a more palatable version of the rule would be that 80% of everything is non-memorable.  20% is generally enough to get the basic idea from something, and that’s usually all people will bother with.

So what does this have to do with meetings?  Just that: people are usually going to walk out of the conference room having only heard about 20% of what you said.  It’s sad but true.  From this, we can learn three very valuable lessons.

Lesson 1: Meetings can be shorter. If people are only going to remember 20% of what is discussed then you might as well not keep them hostage for quite as long as usual.  Who set the standard meeting length at 1 hour?  Seems arbitrary to me.  Perhaps a good motivator for getting people to pay better attention would be to say that the meeting will end as soon as it seems like everyone gets the gist of things.

Lesson 2: You must be careful what you emphasize. Most people will only remember 20% of what you say, but not everyone will remember the same 20%.  This is why you need to make it clear which bits are the important ones and which ones are the details.  Use the three-step salesperson/teacher method:  Tell them what you’re going to tell them.  Tell them.  Then tell them what you told them.

Lesson 3: The follow-up is crucial. Ok, so people are walking out of your meeting with only the basic idea of what’s going on in their heads.  Disaster, right?  Not really — the basic memories of the meeting are still there.  They just need to be nudged a bit.  Best way to do this is by sending out notes as a follow-up right away so that people will have them as a reference.  This way the other 80% won’t simply get lost.

I’m sure you can find other applications for the Pareto Principle in your life and work.  Just don’t take things too far.  Remember, it may be true that you get 80% of a project’s value from the first 20% of work, but the difference between success and failure in the business world is often a margin much slimmer than 20%.  It’s important to spend that time polishing.

One Response to “The 80-20 Rule”

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by WasabiVentures, R. Everett Cherry. R. Everett Cherry said: RT @WasabiVentures: What can the 80-20 rule teach us about #meetings? Three things, actually. From the #MeetingCaptain blog: http://su.pr/34S38h #in #business […]

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