As a technician, your instinct may be to try to solve every problem that arises in front of you. But what if focusing on everything means you’re spreading yourself too thin and ultimately solving nothing effectively?
In the second part of our series exploring quality tools for technical professionals, we’re looking at how the Pareto Chart can help you identify where your effort will have the greatest impact.
If you missed the first part, you can read our introduction to the Fishbone Diagram here.
What is a Pareto Chart?
The Pareto Chart is a visual tool used to identify and prioritise the most significant causes of a problem and is one of the seven tools of quality.
The chart is a graphical representation of data, combining a bar graph and a line graph, with the bars representing the individual causes ranked from most to least frequent, displayed in a way that demonstrates an 80-20 ratio.
It is named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who, in 1906 observed that 80% of Italy’s land was owned by just 20% of its population. From there, he began seeing the ratio throughout his everyday life, leading to his hypothesis that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. This 80:20 ratio of cause-to-effect became known as the Pareto Principle.
The Pareto Chart above demonstrates how a technician might troubleshoot the number of blurry images they are getting when using their microscope or imaging system. The results suggest that 80% of blurry images are caused by a dirty lens or incorrect lens selection. By focusing their efforts on lens usage alone (just 20% of reported symptoms), the technician could resolve over 80% of their problems.
How technicians can use a Pareto Chart in their role
Let’s look at another scenario. In 2025, a technician regularly spent an hour of overtime at the end of their training demonstrations answering questions from students. 80% of the requests for extra support came under the same two topic areas: specialist advice and student personal issues. Using the Pareto Chart, you would be able to persuade your line manager that these specialist topics need to be added to the curriculum. Additionally, you could prepare a set of go-to responses for those two topics, freeing up your time at the end of each session.
In project management, 80% of the value is typically delivered by resolving just 20% of the problems. This means you can achieve significant progress without overstretching your resources or time.
Want to take your project management skills further?
As a technical professional, you are already doing project management daily. You just might not realise it yet. From making grant applications to purchasing equipment, project management is woven into your everyday work.
The project management programmes run by the ITSS Learning and Development Academy remove the mystery around project management, giving you the tools and confidence to apply them intentionally.