The Top 4 Misapplications of the 80/20 Rule

Eighty percent of the output comes from twenty percent of the input.
That is basically a summary of the Pareto Principle, or as it is more
commonly known, the 80/20 Rule. The rule comes from Vilfredo Pareto, an
Italian economist who noticed that 80% of Italy’s wealth

was in the hands of 20% of the population.

http://metagovernment.org/wiki/Vilfredo#The_Math_behind_it

The Vilfredo Goes To Athens project (often referred to as "Vilfredo") starts from the research of what would happen from a mathematical point of view if we consider seriously the principle: "without consensus
there is no law." It also assumes that in many case there is a possible
solution out there that would generate the consensus. Sometimes key
individuals (often regarded as leaders) would find this solution by
speaking with the various parts. What this software is trying to do is
to help the discussant by providing the showing where the key
differences are. To help the people find their solutions without the
need of deified leaders (which eventually can become a burden
themselves). The Vilfredo website is at vilfredo.org.