Keep it Simple, or you’re Stupid

Keep it simple, or you’re stupid.

Not you personally. But the tendency to make things complex – to add more features, more nuance, more qualification – is a form of stupidity that afflicts smart people disproportionately.

Simplicity is hard. Much harder than complexity. Complexity is the default. Simplicity is the result of sustained effort.

Here’s why simple wins:

Simple spreads. Complex doesn’t. If people can’t explain your idea to someone else in a sentence, it won’t spread.

Simple is remembered. Complex is forgotten. The ideas that stick are the ones that can be recalled easily and applied immediately.

Simple is trusted. When something is needlessly complex, people assume either you don’t understand it yourself, or you’re hiding something.

Simple scales. Complex breaks under pressure. The simple version of a process or idea survives being handed to new people, applied in new contexts, and tested under load.

The test for any communication: could a 12-year-old understand this? If not, it’s not simple enough. Go again.