For those proclaiming this book to be life-saver, you will be in for a shock to know that what this book expounds is one of the gazillion other data analysis methods. Let me explain, there is data and there is information. What you do to the data and in appropriate context makes it information. What the author has expounded in this book is that ‘a little of something causes so much of everything” or rather has stamped an approval (it was not his original idea, remember, only the name “80/20 principle” that is his. Read up on Vilfredo Pareto and Pareto Principle) on the theory of imbalance. Exactly why I was left feeling a bit pissed off when I finished this book – the author takes way too long to admit it wasn’t his original idea, and nor does he make it very clear that the ‘80/20’ ratio of causation was only one of the many ratios though he does indeed admit it albeit somewhere after the half-way mark in the book. The one other major grief I have with this book is that it does very little to explain the practical application of this idea for the spreadsheet junkies (which business analyst isn’t?) save a vague chapter or few pages on it..That said, I will not be so arrogant as to deny the author a four star as he has done such a good job in bringing the idea to the fore in the first place. Only, to lean on this book to be your career saver would not be a sound idea. What it will instead do is direct your attention to the world of data analysis; Trust me, as mundane as that phrase sounds, it is quite a skill to have in your repertoire.
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