Recently, I attended a talk on Simplicity organised by UTAR (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman). The speaker was Alex Ow, a De Bono thinking methods trainer.
Simplicity helps us to cut out the unnecessary details in our life. With less details, we spend less. This effectively gives us a chance to redesign our money usage / financial outage.
The following are from the notes that I made from the talk. (For my personal reference and for yours as well!)
What causes Complexity?
There may be several reasons:
- (+) historical
- (+) technological evolution
- (+) unintended duplication
- (+) busy lifestyle
8 Rules For Simplicity
Rule 1
Put a high value on simplicity.
Rule 2
Make an effort to seek simplicity.
Examples of value in simplicity:
- (+) instant shoe polish
- (+) 3-in-1 coffee sachets
Key questions to ask:
- (+) Simpler for whom?
- (+) Simpler for what purpose?
Pitfalls
- (+) Thinking about something without clear focus.
- (+) Drifting away from focus (one thought to another)
Rule 3
Know for whose benefit the simplicity is being designed.
Exercise
My Focus: Education
Simplication: Online Student Registration
Who will benefit most: Student and Institution
How will they benefit: Less stress and more control
Rule 4
Understand the matter very well before simplifying
- (+) Solving problem with known (existing) answer is not creative. Changing the context of a problem will yield new insights.
- (+) Innovations and creativity must be judged with the following criteria: innovation, creativity, application, practicability, appeal.
Rule 5
Consider value priorities and trade-offs.
- (+) Example: Practicality in packing for travels -- packing the bare essentials seems to be more practical than over-packing.
Rule 6
Consider starting all over again (a.k.a. "re-engineering")
Pointers:
- (+) Avoid comparing with others.
- (+) Avoid "black hat" thinking (negative thinking) -- Think first, Attack the problem later.
Think: What are we really trying to achieve?
Exercise
Objective: Of a university
Existing mechanism: Produce quality graduates
Simpler way: Produce quality professionals
Objective: Of a student going to a university
Existing mechanism: Passing exams
Simpler way: Project work
Simplicity vs. Creativity
Creativity means:
- (+) Creating new ideas.
- (+) The ideas may be complex.
- (+) The ideas may not be practicable due to surrounding constraints.
Simplicity means:
- (+) Taking the (impracticable) creative solution and making it practicable.
Rule 7
Concepts are important and need to be used
- (+) Concepts need to be extracted from ideas.
Concepts vs. Ideas
- (+) Example of Concept: "Thirst = Quench"
- (+) Example of related Idea: Fruit (quenches thirst), coffee (ditto), orange juice.
- (+) Concepts broaden your thinking scope.
- (+) Ideas narrow your thinking scope.
- (+) Concepts are "broad ideas" or generalities.
- (+) Ideas are practicable and specific things (that flow from the Concept).
Exercise: Dealing with Concepts
Focus statement: Bookstores
Existing concept: Customers read the books to find out the contents
1. Simpler way to put existing concept into action: Bookstore summarizes contents of books.
2. Modifications to make the concept simpler: Catalogue containing all summaries.
3. New concept simpler than existing one: Online catalogue containing synopses of all books.
4. Why one of them might work: Because people have busier lives now and do not mind saving time.
The first three (1 to 3) are three (3) different ways of simplifying things.
- (+) If a new concept seems to be unworkable, you ask: How do we make things work?
- (+) E.g. Old concept = Buy more to save. New concept: Buy less to save. The concept seems illogical so we are forced to add elements to make it logical (i.e. "filling the blanks"). A possible outcome is when you buy less products, but more in numbers (bulk order), you save in price per product.
Rule 8
Design simplicity using alternatives and possibilities.
- (+) Perceptions: Shifting views. When the corners of two squares overlap, There might be three perceptions by the observer. The observer might see two separate squares. The observer might also see the original two squares and the third square caused by the overlapping corners. And finally the observer might see an "L-shape" (bottom square) and a square (top square).
Processes of Simplicity
- Removal
- Replacement
- Restructuring
- Change of Perspective: Broad / Narrow
Removal
- (+) The most often used approach to simplification
- (+) Examine every aspect of what is being done
- (+) Remove unnecessary aspects
- (+) Removal basically means "chopping out" those things you don't need.
- (+) A variety of removal is "combining" (e.g. camera + phone = camera phone).
Exercise: Removal - The Basic Process
Focus statement: Consider a normal family sedan. What aspect of the car could simply be removed without altering performance or comfort?
Solution: Lights, seat belts, central locking system, and even alarm system can be removed without affecting performance or comfort. (Those are safety features)
Rule 9
Challenge existing elements
- (+) Don't just accept the norm!
- (+) E.g. Toothbrush and toothpaste: Alternative approaches might include (1) A dispenser for toothpaste; and (2) Combining the toothbrush with the toothpaste.
Replacement
Exercise: Replacement -- Wishful Thinking
Focus statement: Simplify the whole process of taking a taxi both from the point of view of the customer and the point of view of the fleet operator. Use wishful thinking to set up an ideal concept and then make that concept practical.
Wishful Thinking and Ideal Concept:
Practical Way(s) to implement this concept:
Replacement: Provocative Amputation
- (+) "Chopping off" things even though they may be necessary.
- (+) Solutions may involve replacing the "discarded parts" with new practical answers / elements.
- (+) E.g. Painting a house --> No painting --> Tiling the walls.
- (+) E.g. Computer notebooks --> No screen --> Basic CPU/keyboard that plugs into any TV set!
Rule 10
Consider breaking things down into smaller units.
Restructuring
- (+) Reorganising existing pieces and operations in a different way.
- (+) Changing the process.
- (+) E.g. Pre-approved credit cards: Previously, credit card applications were subject to approvals. Now, the use of credit ratings enable banks to "pre-approve" credit cards.
- (+) Think: Is your solution perfectly correct in all contexts? If later stages show that it does not fit, analyse so that it fits all situations.
Exercise
Focus statement 1: Taking telephone orders from customers
Rearrange existing parts: Company calls customers for orders.
Focus statement 2: School final exams - set by teachers.
Rearrange existing parts: School final exams - set by students. Or, exam system replaced by other system.
Broad or Narrow Approach
- (+) Broad: Identifying the current, general flavour and trying an alternative perspective to look at things.
- (+) Narrow: Ladder, taking small steps that eventually lead to a significant change.
Exercise: Broad Approach -- General Flavour
Focus statement: Consider an alternative General Flavour and how it might simplify things.
Example 1: Cafes.
General Flavour: Hangout place to chill with friends.
Alternative General Flavour: Social place to get to know new friends.
How it might simplify things: Easier to market the place.
Example 2: Books
General Flavour: Reading for information.
Alternative General Flavour: Listening for information.
How it might simplify things: Busy people have no time to focus. An audio version of a book helps people understand books while doing other things (e.g. driving).
Example 3: Sports
General Flavour: Healthy people go to gym for sports.
Alternative General Flavour: Unhealthy people go to gym to shape up.
How it might simplify things: More people will go to gym willingly.
Dangers of Simplicity
- (+) Change for the sake of change.
- (+) Simpler for whom?
- (+) Leaving things out.
- (+) Trade-Offs.
Quotes by Edward De Bono
- (+) "You can analyse the past but you have to design the future."
- (+) "The quality of our thinking will determine the quality of our future."
Questions and Answers Session
- (+) Trade-off vs. Priorities: Must consider cheaper cost, and whether needs are fulfilled.
- (+) When dealing with people who refuse to simplify: Explain the benefit of subscribing to the rules of simplicity. Example: For the past 75 years, people have invested time and money to simplify things. The Internet may be around for the next 100 years. If no effort is made to simplify things, we will suffer from information overload.
- (+) Overall, simplicity pays for itself!
