Keep in mind, in today’s complex world, in the core of simplicity lies complexity, the simpler one perceives in any system, problem or living being is inherently more complex.
Because when things get more and more complicated, misunderstanding pops up, processes turn to be fragile, and business gaps are enlarged. There are different ingredients in simplicity, and there are varying ways to manifest the contemporary context of simplicity.
Agility: Organizations across the vertical sectors today face unprecedented uncertainty, fierce competitions and continuous disruptions, to make things worse, many companies are inundated with the sea of information & misinformation, operating with dysfunctional systems with overly complicated processes and redundant procedures. The organization has become "unconscious" because it is no longer responding to the external environment. Thus, simplification is the lens to keep things function as expected. The business agility based on self-adaptation is the capability to adapt to the change and make "conscious" business choices seamlessly, to respond to ever-evolving business dynamics promptly. It’s also one of the very characteristics of contemporary simplicity.
In fact, being agile is a state of “simplicity” mindset through openness, being able to seek ways and means of adjusting your perspective and those around you and following the principle of “simplicity.” In business management practice, it simply means that you should not over-engineer a system or complex things without a purpose. Simplicity emerges synergistically from “work reduction.” Maximize the amount of high value work you do, also maximize the amount of low value work you don't do; prioritizing on what you need to be doing. Develop only the functionality that is needed, using high-quality approaches, but do not add bells and whistles that are not needed yet. It means less structure, fewer rules or regulations, changeability, and high maturity.
Balance: As the saying is going, simplicity is the optimal level of complexity. From a design perspective, external simplicity is directly proportional to internal complexity. Simplicity is the design of looking for what is common for maximum reuse. But how do you know that simplicity is "just right"?To build intuitive products or services with easy to use and delightful features, it’s important to hide technical complexity from end users, but we all need to know that behind the scenes, there is lots of learning, intelligence, and perhaps some management chaos in it. Doing this successfully requires a spirit of trust and partnership between the users and the development team. Simplicity is the right mix of solid and flow, originality and sophistication, intuition and logic, art and science, etc.
In fact, modern management is the journey of taking a balanced approach to simplify. In the core of simplicity lies complexity. When problems or organizations become overly complex, people get frustrated by not being able to achieve their tasks easily. They start to clarify issues, search for simpler concepts, methods, technologies, or practices to improve effectiveness and efficiency, find out the complexities within the system and break them down to simplify so that they can focus on things that are needed and eliminate those that are no longer required to be done. The high-responsive organization is highly conscious about what's happening in their environment, keeps things simple, learns to stay alert, observe with subtlety and respond fast, grasp opportunities and prevent risks effectively.
Flexibility: We live in such a hyper-connected and interdependent world with exponential growth of information and rapid changes, being flexible is no longer a choice, but the “must-have '' professional ability to see things from different angles and figure out alternative ways to do things. Technically, flexibility is about figuring out different ways to solve problems; psychologically, being flexible is simply an ability to learn and adapt to changes; intellectually, flexibility is to apply updated knowledge or effective platforms or tools to explore new possibilities, take further responsibilities but also and above all, in the effectiveness of its initiatives. Logically, enforcing flexibility is to pursue simplicity.
From a management perspective, digital organizations achieve strategic flexibility by developing the lego-like module design architecture and capabilities with quality, reusability, simplicity; and the internal processes are broken into modular service components that have a standard open interface and easy-to-use interface. The culture of flexibility advocated by effective leadership is about advocating simplicity, bringing out the best in others, improving quality thinking, exploring different views, and developing fresh insight. Keep in mind, to look at things from various sides does not make anything complex, it is a process to simplify. To do things alternatively, does not mean distraction, it is a scenario to develop creativity. To get “just right" simplicity, you would have to address the complexities of the subject matter and have the minimum required complexity to enforce clarity and spur innovation.
Keep in mind, in today’s complex world, in the core of simplicity lies complexity, the simpler one perceives in any system, problem or living being is inherently more complex. Simplicity in language is the key to learning so that we can reach the deepest corners of minds of people where learning happens. Life is a paradox, full of contradictions, getting simple answers out of that paradox could be the motive of some people. It's all about balance and perception. You need complexity to understand and appreciate the simplicity and vice versa.
Agility: Organizations across the vertical sectors today face unprecedented uncertainty, fierce competitions and continuous disruptions, to make things worse, many companies are inundated with the sea of information & misinformation, operating with dysfunctional systems with overly complicated processes and redundant procedures. The organization has become "unconscious" because it is no longer responding to the external environment. Thus, simplification is the lens to keep things function as expected. The business agility based on self-adaptation is the capability to adapt to the change and make "conscious" business choices seamlessly, to respond to ever-evolving business dynamics promptly. It’s also one of the very characteristics of contemporary simplicity.
In fact, being agile is a state of “simplicity” mindset through openness, being able to seek ways and means of adjusting your perspective and those around you and following the principle of “simplicity.” In business management practice, it simply means that you should not over-engineer a system or complex things without a purpose. Simplicity emerges synergistically from “work reduction.” Maximize the amount of high value work you do, also maximize the amount of low value work you don't do; prioritizing on what you need to be doing. Develop only the functionality that is needed, using high-quality approaches, but do not add bells and whistles that are not needed yet. It means less structure, fewer rules or regulations, changeability, and high maturity.
Balance: As the saying is going, simplicity is the optimal level of complexity. From a design perspective, external simplicity is directly proportional to internal complexity. Simplicity is the design of looking for what is common for maximum reuse. But how do you know that simplicity is "just right"?To build intuitive products or services with easy to use and delightful features, it’s important to hide technical complexity from end users, but we all need to know that behind the scenes, there is lots of learning, intelligence, and perhaps some management chaos in it. Doing this successfully requires a spirit of trust and partnership between the users and the development team. Simplicity is the right mix of solid and flow, originality and sophistication, intuition and logic, art and science, etc.
In fact, modern management is the journey of taking a balanced approach to simplify. In the core of simplicity lies complexity. When problems or organizations become overly complex, people get frustrated by not being able to achieve their tasks easily. They start to clarify issues, search for simpler concepts, methods, technologies, or practices to improve effectiveness and efficiency, find out the complexities within the system and break them down to simplify so that they can focus on things that are needed and eliminate those that are no longer required to be done. The high-responsive organization is highly conscious about what's happening in their environment, keeps things simple, learns to stay alert, observe with subtlety and respond fast, grasp opportunities and prevent risks effectively.
Flexibility: We live in such a hyper-connected and interdependent world with exponential growth of information and rapid changes, being flexible is no longer a choice, but the “must-have '' professional ability to see things from different angles and figure out alternative ways to do things. Technically, flexibility is about figuring out different ways to solve problems; psychologically, being flexible is simply an ability to learn and adapt to changes; intellectually, flexibility is to apply updated knowledge or effective platforms or tools to explore new possibilities, take further responsibilities but also and above all, in the effectiveness of its initiatives. Logically, enforcing flexibility is to pursue simplicity.
From a management perspective, digital organizations achieve strategic flexibility by developing the lego-like module design architecture and capabilities with quality, reusability, simplicity; and the internal processes are broken into modular service components that have a standard open interface and easy-to-use interface. The culture of flexibility advocated by effective leadership is about advocating simplicity, bringing out the best in others, improving quality thinking, exploring different views, and developing fresh insight. Keep in mind, to look at things from various sides does not make anything complex, it is a process to simplify. To do things alternatively, does not mean distraction, it is a scenario to develop creativity. To get “just right" simplicity, you would have to address the complexities of the subject matter and have the minimum required complexity to enforce clarity and spur innovation.
Keep in mind, in today’s complex world, in the core of simplicity lies complexity, the simpler one perceives in any system, problem or living being is inherently more complex. Simplicity in language is the key to learning so that we can reach the deepest corners of minds of people where learning happens. Life is a paradox, full of contradictions, getting simple answers out of that paradox could be the motive of some people. It's all about balance and perception. You need complexity to understand and appreciate the simplicity and vice versa.
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