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Why Simplicity Works
Simplicity helps people
work smarter. As
Bill Jensen1
puts it, "Simplicity works because it is based on human nature and common
sense,"
16 Ways to Avoid the
Hassle of Commercializing University Technology
By: Terry Collison
If you have a technology policy and a procedure, make sure
nobody in the university community actually understands what it is.
Complexity is good...
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The Universal Problem
In today's era of
over-communication, the avalanche of news about the rapid changes of
modern life and management issues is turning people off. "The universal
problem seems to be how hard people have to work just to figure out what to
do. Task work has been streamlined, but knowledge work has become more
cluttered and confusing. Making the right choices – fast, while everything
is changing – is now the toughest part of getting our work done." writes
Bill Jensen.1
The Growing Avoidance of Complexity
The psychologist Dr. Carol Moog states that in
our culture, there's is a "paranoia of omission". There's a sense that you
have to cover all your options because you could be attacked at any moment.
You can't miss anything or it could be fatal to your carrer.2
This leads to maddening complexity. The best way to deal with these natural
fears is to
focus on the right problem. That's the power of simplicity.
Besides, people don't want to spent too much
time on thinking. By simplifying a complex issue, you are making it easier
for people make a decision faster, without too much thought.
Apply 80/20 Rule
to Your Business
"Because business is wasteful, and
because complexity and waste feed on each other, a simple business will
always be better than a complex business". To succeed in
managing change
and transforming your business by applying the
80/20 Principle you need to
demonstrate that simple is beautiful and why. Unless you understand this,
you will never be willing to give up underperforming 80% of your current
business and overheads. "The way to create something great is to create
something simple... Progress requires simplicity; and simplicity requires
ruthlessness," writes Richard Koch.6...
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Learning Power
In
learning, we
want things fast, but we don't have time to study. "The world is changing so
rapidly that by the time we learn something, it has often changed in some
way, shape or form... We want satisfaction, proof that even though life is
moving quickly, we are gaining on it and we are
making a difference."5
Simple ideas from people who have done simple things and achieved great
results make this high-speed race more manageable. They enable you to get
started in small, immediate ways that make a difference, confident that you
will make progress if you take the initiative to
act.
Case
in Point
General Electric (GE)
Jack Welch
summed up his prescription for winning in three words:
Simplicity is one of the keys to business. It
is an art form, with many definitions: "To an engineer, it's clean,
functional design with fewer parts. For manufacturing it means judging a
process not by how sophisticated it is, but how understandable it is to
those who must make it work. In
marketing
it means clear messages and clean proposals to consumers and industrial
customers. And, most importantly, on an individual,
interpersonal level it takes the form of plain-speaking, directness –
honesty."...
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Case
in Point
Colin Powell's 18 Leadership Principles
Great
leaders
are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate
and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand. The result? Clarity
of purpose, credibility of leadership, and integrity of organization...
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Case
in Point
Google
On the Web, simplicity is a
necessary condition for survival. If your website is difficult to use,
people leave. Keep your website simple and visitors will use it.
Rapid growth of
Google due to popularity of its ultra-simple interface is a prime
example.
Innovation
Innovation
is actually a very simple phenomenon.
Innovation is about
Love:
do what you love to do
and love
your customers
...
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Case
in Point
Konosuke
Matsushita
Henry Ford once
remarked that the smarter the engineer the more likely he was to say that
something couldn't be done.
Konosuke Matsushita,
Founder of Panasonic, had a similar idea about the connection between
knowledge and innovation: "We speak of the
shortcomings of the purely intellectual approach, but this refers to our
wariness of half-baked theories that can prevent us from proceeding to a
practical solution. If necessity is the mother of invention, then simple,
unaffected determination is its father. Even when everyone around you say
it's impossible, if you step back and rethink your task in the simplest
possible terms, free of the noise of over-erudite and preconceived notions,
often the solutions will come to you, out of the blue, so to speak." For
this reason, Matsushita's own lack of formal education was a blessing in
disguise, allowing him to see to the heart of problems free of the
constraints of academic or unsubstantiated ideas.8
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