the Pareto principlenoun [ S ]
ukusalso Pareto's law , informal the 80/20 rule ECONOMICS, WORKPLACE, PRODUCTIONthe idea that a small quantity of work or resources (= time, money, employees, etc.) can produce a large number of results:
The Pareto principle, when applied to time, states that 20% of your time determines 80% of your production.
The Pareto principle can be applied to quality improvement, as the majority of problems (80%) are produced by a few key causes (20%).