Pareto's Principle and Mom's Singing

A couple of weeks ago when I wrote about the Five Minute Rule, I also brought up the concept of the last 20 Percent.  While cleaning up around the house the other day and right before the temptation to succumb to laziness towards the end of my spree, I was reminded that I had not finished telling you about this concept. I know for sure that I first learned the concept of the last 20 percent as a child. My mother still sings a little song - "Be the labor great or small do it well or don't do it at all." And you've heard it said many different ways.  "The icing on the cake" is just one of them, referring to adding the best little bit or, "It's all in the details".  Of course it is.  As you know, learning and even knowing something and continuing to apply it are two completely different things.  You may know all about the last 20 percent or maybe you learned it as the last 10 percent, but either way it's really important.

So let's first look at where this comes from: Pareto's Principle- commonly known as the 80/20 Rule. The 80/20 Rule means that with anything, 20 percent of it is vital and 80 percent is trivial.  You can apply the 80/20 Rule to almost anything, from the science of management to the physical world.  This goes hand-in-hand with the Five-Minute Rule to a degree.  It seems to hold true that in getting projects done, 20 percent of the work, many times the first 10 percent and the last percent, is the most important and consumes 80 percent of your time and resources.  It's what I call a law of nature.  And oh as if you didn't already know it, working on the last 10 percent is hard.  Really hard.  It's like losing that last 10 pounds, or improving your speed when running.  You're so close.  It's that darn last little bit.  You've built the shelves, and are wondering if it's really worth it to "sink" the nails, cover them with filler and sand the areas before painting?

I guess it's like everything else, if it was easy - everyone would be good at.  All products would be excellent because 80 percent of the manufacturing effort would be expended in making sure everything was perfect.  Of course most of us couldn't afford much, because getting things "perfect" is costly.  Or is it?  Maybe it's just bad use of time or lazy management.  I ran across a blog the other day from someone who was really ticked about a new Microsoft product - Silverlight.  Many of you probably don't care much about what Silverlight is but in layman's terms Silverlight is Microsoft's version of Flash and it's used for building web sites and for media on ASP.NET websites.  It seems like it will be replaced by HTML5 as a more "universal" tool to make things more seamless as we use the web.  Now back to the blog.  The blogger was really angry because from his perspective it seems that Microsoft forgets to focus on the last 10-20 percent a lot.  I don't want to get into that discussion here; I only use this to make a point since it was a handy example.

Can you think of areas where you could focus better on the last 10 percent?  Of course you can.  We all can. It doesn't mean we will.  I wonder: If we apply the Five-Minute Rule...just start something and commit to five minutes (that's about eight percent of an hour) of doing it before you decide to keep going or stop.  That will get us going.  And then focus on the last 10 percent, which is the hardest part.  Will the 80 percent just fall into place?  Hmmm?  I'm thinking that if nothing else keeping the 80/20 Rule top of mind will serve as a daily reminder to focus 80 percent of our time and energy on the 20 percent work (the beginning or the end) that is really important.  I'm going to allow that little voice of my mom's to sing loudly.  Feel free to have her sing for you too.  "Be the labor great or small, do it well or don't do it at all!"

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Marty's and City Gear operate 75 locations throughout AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MO, MS and TN.  Marty's offers men's and boys' apparel and City Gear offers young men's and women's apparel.  The stores prefer to occupy spaces of 3,500 sq.ft. to 4,500 sq.ft. in malls.  Plans call for 15 to 20 openings throughout the existing markets during the coming 18 months, with representation by Results Realty, LLC.  Typical leases run five years.  The company will also consider locations in power and strip centers.  For more information, contact Ron Devine, Results Realty, LLC, 5803 Lee Highway, Suite 103, Chattanooga, TN 37421

Magawad, Inc. trades as 4M Fashions at eight locations throughout NJ and NY.  The stores, offering dress and casual apparel for men and children, occupy spaces of 2,800 sq.ft. to 3,000 sq.ft. in malls.   Growth opportunities are sought throughout Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC during the coming 18 months.  Typical leases run five years with a five-year option.  Preferred demographics include a population of 50,000 within five miles earning $50,000 as the average household income.  For more information, contact Mike Atallah, Magawad, Inc., 1522 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ 08401

South Moon Under operates 14 locations throughout DE, MD, PA and VA.  The stores, offering men's and women's apparel, accessories, footwear, swimwear, jewelry and gift items, occupy spaces of 4,000 sq.ft. to 4,500 sq.ft. in freestanding locations, malls, strip centers and urban/downtown areas.  Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing markets, as well as Washington, DC, during the coming 18 months.  Typical leases run 10 years with two, five-year options.  A vanilla shell is required.  Preferred demographics include a population of 10,000 within one mile earning $100,000 as the average household income.  For more information, contact Frank Gunion, South Moon Under, 619 Franklin Avenue, Berlin, MD 21811

A & E Stores, Inc. trades as Pay/Half, Strawberry and Bolton's at 100 locations throughout CT, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NY, PA and RI.  Bolton's offers discounted misses apparel and prefers to occupy spaces of 1,800 sq.ft. to 3,000 sq.ft., Strawberry offers discounted junior's apparel and prefers to occupy spaces of 3,000 sq.ft. to 6,000 sq.ft. and Pay/Half offer discounted family apparel and prefers to occupy spaces of 7,500 sq.ft. to 15,000 sq.ft. in specialty, strip and value centers, as well as urban/downtown areas.  Plans call for 10 to 15 openings throughout the existing markets during the coming 18 months.  Typical leases run 10 years with options.  Specific improvements are required.  For more information, contact Bruce Kleiman, A&E Stores, Inc., 1000 Huyler Street, Teterboro, NJ 07608

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