Generally speaking, simplicity is good, and complexity is bad.
But like every coin, simplicity has two sides. The other side is this: simplicity is compelling—whether it’s right or dead wrong.
Indeed, a simple point of view that makes sense on the surface can, when you dig deeper, be way off.
And there’s the rub. Nowadays, people don’t take the time to dig deep. People simply accept simplicity, with little appreciation for the complexity that lies beneath.
As a result, simplicity no longer means what it used to: a solid grasp of things, mastery—wisdom, even.
Instead, simplicity has become a convenient shortcut. Something that’s easy to wrap your head around. A comfortable buffer against reality in all its messy complexity.
Simplicity has become a convenient shortcut.
Basically, simplification has given way to oversimplification.
This is true in big organizations that, in the face of complexity, cling to old ways and adopt new ideas in a simplistic fashion.
Take these familiar technology topics for example: outsourcing, offshoring, and (surprise) Agile. Big companies still struggle with these topics, not because they haven’t dealt with them before, but because they approach them again and again in a wishful way, with management layers to boot.
And so, as an advocate of the deceivingly simple Agile way of dealing with technology in all its complexity, I warn you:
Beware of simplicity, and keep it grounded in reality.
Keep simplicity grounded in reality.
Simplicity is good
Before taking a closer look at the dark side of simplicity, let’s be clear that simplicity is ultimately something to strive for.
Simplicity is good when:
- Simplicity is clarity. And clarity is important, nowhere more so than with goals.
- Simplicity is understanding. To quote Albert Einstein: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
- Simplicity helps communication. “A picture is worth a thousand words.” An emoji is worth 140 characters.
- Simplicity helps execution. Given the choice between a simple solution and a complicated one, go with the simple solution and shift to action. Even better: “violence of action,” as Tim Kennedy explains on the James Altucher podcast (17:45).
- Simplicity reduces waste. Because waste creeps in as complexity increases.
- Simplicity eliminates choice. This is a good thing because, as Barry Schwartz points out in his book and in his TED Talk, “The Paradox of Choice,” choice is trouble.
- Simplicity is thinking things through. Alice Waters: “Simplicity doesn’t mean you haven’t thought something through. In fact, it’s the reverse. You’ve thought it through so well that you can just do it simply.”
- Simplicity is where function meets beauty. The “utterly serene” as Jonathan Ive calls it, at the intersection of aesthetic minimalism and functional minimalism.
- Simplicity is purity. “Ultimate simplicity leads to purity” is how food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto sums up chef Jiro Ono’s sushi in the documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.”
- Simplicity is true goodness. For example, according to Confucius, one must be “simple and slow in speech” to approach true goodness.
But it’s not easy to achieve this sort of simplicity. This simplicity is the result of painstaking practice, experimentation, and distillation to get to the essence of something. Consider for example:
- Chef Daisuke Nakazawa (a former apprentice of Jiro Ono) and how sushi is about subtraction.
- Bob Dylan’s song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” on the guitar: four simple chords.
- Or, as the story goes, when Picasso agreed to do a quick sketch on a napkin and then asked for a lot of money for it. “But it only took you a minute to draw this!” Picasso’s response: “It took me a lifetime.”
It’s not so much about keeping it simple. It’s about making it simple, and making it look easy.
“One of the truest sign of mastering a craft is the ability to make an exceedingly difficult task look effortless.”
—Kristina O’Neill, WSJ. Magazine Editor’s Letter, March 2015
Simplicity is bad
On the other hand, simplicity can be a bad thing—evil, even.
Simplicity is bad when:
- Simplicity paints an incomplete picture. John McCarthy: “As the Chinese say, 1001 words is worth more than a picture.”
- Simplicity is the result of oversimplification. Simplification to the point of error, distortion, or misrepresentation. Another Albert Einstein quote: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
- Simplicity is one size fits all. In comparison to solutions that are fit for purpose, one-size-fits-all solutions are suboptimal.
- Simplicity is misguided rigidity. Like a guideline used literally, a rule of thumb turned draconian rule.
- Simplicity is naiveté. A lack of experience, judgment, or information.
- Simplicity is manipulation. Yuval Noah Harari explains on the James Altucher podcast (16:54) how stories drive humankind. Successful stories are simple; most people don’t like complicated stories.
- Simplicity is a shortcut. An easy way to wrap your head around something, skip the work, and go straight to a conclusion.
- Simplicity is a buffer against reality. A comfortable way to avoid complexity.
- Simplicity is wishful fiction. Thomas Edison: “Vision without execution is hallucination.”
Simplicity in the field of technology
The reality is, technology is complicated. Nothing comes easy when you’re building, integrating, and maintaining systems. And things get worse as size increases.
So, in contrast, it’s tempting to go for answers that are simple, even if only on the surface. Want faster, better, cheaper? Go Agile, go Cloud, go Offshore!
How nice would it be to have it all, from the comfort of PowerPoint presentations and one-line emails, within the confines of conference rooms.
But there’s no shortcut, no substitute for good people working hard in the midst of complexity over long periods of time, looking at situations as a whole to arrive at clear and simple solutions that, all along, were within their grasp.
And from that point of view, Agile offers a principle that, when taken to heart, can prove to be powerful beyond the realm of software development: break big, overwhelming things into small, manageable chunks. Anything big: a big project, a big team, a big company. Just divide it into smaller chunks. And then, empower people to take on those chunks, immerse themselves totally in the work and the depth of its complexity, and arrive at simple solutions.
Put another way: divide and conquer.
Divide complexity, conquer simplicity.
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Select links in this post:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi Documentary
Be Simple and Slow in Speech, Delanceyplace.com
James Altucher Podcast #216 with Yuval Noah Harari, A Brief History of the Future
