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Keep it simple Stupid

Or Keep it simple Silly for those of you who don’t like foul language.  This is an excellent saying. If you look around you will find most things in life are simple, the most effective solutions to most problems are simple, the most revolutionary ideas revolve around a simple process. Basically the more simplistic something is the more efficient it is and the more likely it will succeed as there are less fail points.

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.. Albert Einstein

If you built a machine that can take you from point A to point B by that required lots of mental and physical strength by paddling both your arms legs and moving your head side to side to get the contraption to work you would notice it was far too complex to operate for the task of going from one point to another. A bicycle would be an example of a simple and efficient machine. This is the reason after so many years of existence it’s still around today.  Braking the bicycle down further, one of its components, the wheel, is an even more efficient and effective concept that can be utilized in so many different ways it has become the corner stone of many modern inventions.

We need to all strive to keep things simple if it can be made simple. Adding unneeded complexity normally always leads to more problems and less efficiency and wasted time and effort. You will find when starting a business some of the best ideas that revolutionize how we live and do business are very simple ideas that make us say “That was so simple! Why didn’t I think of that?” Let us not confuse simplicity for being simple minded, although simplicity is a good thing we also need to know when and how to keep things simple as it is not always a good thing.

For those of us who want to start a business, one day we will need to create a complex and detailed business plan. A well thought out business plan is great, however as an entrepreneur we should always ask our self a simple question before we get consumed in details. How will this idea or business make money? It is a simple question, and deserves a simple answer that makes sense. Whatever the answer may be, it should not sound ridiculous and you should be able to easily get even a middle school student to easily understand how your business would be profitable.

If the simple answer turns out to be very complicated and the average person can’t understand how it could ever make money that may be a sign you need to re-think a more efficient way of doing business, there most likely is a more simple way. Having a simple basis or foundation for your plans and ideas is always best before building complex systems, it is the simplicity that will provide the stable foundation for all other related ideas to be built upon.

As a final example, I would like to discuss the concept of Division of Labor. For this example, say you have 10 workers making a widget that requires several moving parts. Instead of having each of the 10 works assemble each widget completely, you can create a manufacturing line where each workers task is made simpler by reducing their job down to just adding one part of the widget while the next worker is responsible for the next part etc.

By breaking the process down into simpler tasks and dividing each among the worker creates a much more efficient method capable of creating much more widgets than would be possible had each worker been responsible for making each widget themselves. This is due removing the complexity and instead creating a system that harnesses the power of simplicity instead. And this is one of many other reasons division of labor is such a power concept.

Today we live in a world filled with complexity. However as end users our desires are always quite simple. Such as, I would like the ability to let everyone know what I am doing right now easily, or I would like to let others know where I am during certain times of day, or I would like to be able to go from point A to point B in less than 10mins. As such we should always strive to make our simple desires a reality by creating a simple solution. 

We need to make sure we do not over think an issue, most times a simple approach is best. True now day’s the issues and problems we face are more complicated, however looking for complicated solutions makes our task that much more difficult. For a start we should learn to listen carefully to the problem and remember to always ask ourselves "Is there a better way?" "Can we make it easier?" And "Why are we doing it this way?" These questions are great at ensuring we aren’t needlessly making things more complicated and helps bring forth a good idea.