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Home > For Free > Articles > issue11vol5
Why Simplicity is Essential (still)
By David Brewster May 2006
I was on holiday with my family in the USA when it came to writing an article this month. I had good intentions of writing something new, but, in the spirit of keeping things simple, decided to focus my attention on my wife and children instead. So, as a simple way out (for me), the following article revisits (with a couple of minor modifications) the very first article published by Business Simplification - five years ago. You might reflect on whether the message of this article is any less necessary five years on. I suspect not.
I'm travelling overseas at the moment. It struck me as I packed that I had spent more time making sure I had a full set of batteries and power cords than I did making sure I had enough clothes! But as I arrived at the airport with my 'e-ticket' floating beside me in cyberspace, it struck me that all is not lost in the pursuit of simplicity.
Simplicity. A beautiful word. A word which, by its mention alone, creates a sense of relief in this increasingly complex world. Simplicity is a value most would agree is something worth striving for. But so often it seems all to hard - if indeed we have time to think about it at all.
And that's where the problem starts. For simplicity doesn't just 'happen'. In fact without conscious effort the opposite - increased complexity - is almost certain to manifest itself.
Our modern world generates complexity at the speed of thought (to paraphrase Bill Gates). Where once we communicated with the outside world by fixed phone or mail, we now have to deal with phone, mobile phone, fax, email, voice-mail, internet forums,
blogs, RSS, SMS, Blackberries - the list goes on.Where once we had filing cabinet we now have a desktop, laptop, palm-top and mobile to coordinate. And these examples only relate to technology - consider the complexity imposed on us by the surfeit of choices available to us at every turn.
Modern evolution almost requires complexity as a matter of course. It certainly doesn't encourage simplicity. Did you ever see anyone advertising a television 'now with less features'? Or a software vendor offering a product 'downgrade'?
Which leaves us with two choices.
- We can be swept along on this wave of complexity, becoming increasingly rushed as we try to fit everything in and absorb everything thrown at us.
- Or we can make a conscious decision to start simplifying our businesses and our lives, to start peeling away the unnecessary and getting back to basics.
Without 'jumping ship' and running away to some hippy outpost (which introduces a new set of complexities), achieving absolute simplicity is something none of us will ever achieve. But if we don't make some effort, if we don't train ourselves to look for ways to simplify, we can guarantee our lives will become more complex, more busy, less efficient and more stressful.
Opportunities to simplify abound when we know where to look. More on that in the months and years to come.
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