In today’s environment, whether you are an individual contributor or a lead, the world is an increasingly complex place. The combination of matrixed organizational structures, ever changing technology, dynamic social-political environments, and hybrid, international work make for challenges well beyond just “doing the job” at hand. In a complex world, it is easy to always look for the most complex solution to “match the complexity” of the problem at hand. I’m here to remind you of the opposite: KEEP IT SIMPLE!
You’ll see over the next few weeks that 3 of my “how” principles are related: “keep it simple”, “rethink or reframe the problem”, and “look for creative solutions” are all foundational to how I operate. Today’s topic of keeping it simple is always top of mind through all 3 of those phases, however. Let me give an example to share why.
There is nearly always more than one way to do something (solve a problem, create something new, etc.). For example, lighting a birthday candle can be done directly or more flamboyantly like this:
I maintain that the simple way is the best way. 3 key reasons why:
First, simple is typically the most efficient with the fewest possible obvious errors. Much less can go wrong if you just light the candle than if you go through all the gyrations in the illustration. Both work, and both can go wrong in different ways, but one is far less likely to have an unexpected outcome than the other and one will require far less troubleshooting to fix than the other.
Second, simple is repeatable with the lowest level of effort and highest likelihood of success. In our example, blow out the candle. Now when you realize you need to relight it, you can either grab another match…or reset the entire circumstance above and hope that it all works flawlessly again. No further explanation necessary if you’ve ever played with dominoes.
Third, Occam’s Razor: the simplest answer/solution is more likely to be the correct one. Is this logic infallible? Is the simplest way the only way? Of course the answer is a resounding “no” to both. But, the simplest answer does have a fighting chance of being right (if not a high probability) and at worst it gives you a hypothesis to prove/disprove without utilizing tons of resources on the problem or the solution. In our example, we really need to just ensure that the candle will actually light, so the multistep process seems like overkill, doesn’t it?
Simplicity isn’t perfect. It isn’t the only way. It isn’t showy or interesting, when in some cases that extra flare is very much necessary. But, the simplest solution is typically a wonderful starting place that can often be a wonderful ending place. It’s more likely to be efficient, repeatable, and logical. It’s consistently easier to explain something simple to others who need to understand it. Simplicity won’t solve every problem, but it can prove to be a fantastic place to start solving. If the most simple solution doesn’t work, you can add a little complexity and try that. You only end up with a Rube Goldberg Machine-style answer if the problem is incredibly complex and REQUIRES an equally complex solution.
In short, simplicity is simply irresistible once you give it a try.
View from the Middle 