Keep It Simple Stupid!
It has been a long time since I have posted a typical blog rather than a football one. Well it seems that way really. I have been very busy lately with work related matters, as well as birthdays for my two daughters, a few school events and other crazy deadlines!
Quite simply, our modern life is one that is crazy and chaotic.
I remember back when I was a grasshopper, well much younger than now, our school class visited a local college. In one of the rooms there was a huge machine (called a computer). To us youngsters it was truly amazing. A machine that could do lots of things automatically. Anyway, the head of the computer department told the class that in the future, the world would be paper free, have quicker processes and we would all have more leisure time. To me, that sounded really good. Less work, and more time to spend with family and friends!
Fast forward to 2012 and the opposite is true. We are still churning out reams of paper. Our litigious world is the main cause of this, in my opinion. Do we have more leisure time? certainly not. Statistically, we are working more hours now than what our parents did. The culprit for this is technology. As we are exposed to new improved software and so forth, we can now finish certain tasks much quicker than in the 'bad old days'. Hence we are able to do more work in our allotted hours!
The other thing that has happened over time is that as people we like complicating matters. I remember a few years ago I had to write a memorandum to a general manager outlining what my department required. I wrote down 10 bullet points, and all were approved.
The two other managers in my area wrote a mini 'War and Peace' outlining what they wanted. Needless to say both their requests were declined! The reason why they were declined was basically due to their thought process of over justifying their reasons.
In business, it is generally the simple project, invention or product that will win the day. We are very basic creatures, us humans. We like things being simplistic. it helps us to remember things much better. Even if we look at the iPhone, for example. One of the best selling apps of all time is Angry Birds. It is an addictive game to say the least. What is its premise? Generally, you fire a bird from a shooter to knock down buildings and destroy pigs. It is a very basic game indeed!
So we need to ensure that we keep things in a very simple way. Hence the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid. if we do this the world will eventually be a better place!
Quite simply, our modern life is one that is crazy and chaotic.
I remember back when I was a grasshopper, well much younger than now, our school class visited a local college. In one of the rooms there was a huge machine (called a computer). To us youngsters it was truly amazing. A machine that could do lots of things automatically. Anyway, the head of the computer department told the class that in the future, the world would be paper free, have quicker processes and we would all have more leisure time. To me, that sounded really good. Less work, and more time to spend with family and friends!
Fast forward to 2012 and the opposite is true. We are still churning out reams of paper. Our litigious world is the main cause of this, in my opinion. Do we have more leisure time? certainly not. Statistically, we are working more hours now than what our parents did. The culprit for this is technology. As we are exposed to new improved software and so forth, we can now finish certain tasks much quicker than in the 'bad old days'. Hence we are able to do more work in our allotted hours!
The other thing that has happened over time is that as people we like complicating matters. I remember a few years ago I had to write a memorandum to a general manager outlining what my department required. I wrote down 10 bullet points, and all were approved.
The two other managers in my area wrote a mini 'War and Peace' outlining what they wanted. Needless to say both their requests were declined! The reason why they were declined was basically due to their thought process of over justifying their reasons.
In business, it is generally the simple project, invention or product that will win the day. We are very basic creatures, us humans. We like things being simplistic. it helps us to remember things much better. Even if we look at the iPhone, for example. One of the best selling apps of all time is Angry Birds. It is an addictive game to say the least. What is its premise? Generally, you fire a bird from a shooter to knock down buildings and destroy pigs. It is a very basic game indeed!
So we need to ensure that we keep things in a very simple way. Hence the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid. if we do this the world will eventually be a better place!
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