Book Review: The Simplicity Cycle, by Dan Ward

The Simplicity Cycle, by Dan Ward A field guide to making things better without making them worse

The author, Dan Ward, was a program development leader in the US Army for 20 years, a consultant, and also the author of the book F.I.R.E : Fast, Inexpensive, Restrained and Elegant.

My Summary

Soda, Swordsmen, and Road Maps

We are surrounded by complexity. Banning complexity would be impossible (and unwise). But there are things we can do to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. We can refuse to accept high level of complexity as inevitable and refuse to view these levels as desirable. But simplicity is not the point, Goodness is the point. Goodness is assessed by the customer. Analyze  a map to understand before embarking on a journey… Even if the map is not the territory. The leader says : “we are here”, and in order to go there, we will go there and there first. A map is indispensable for that. The simplicity cycle is a 2-dimensional diagram with Complexity and Goodness as axis.

The Journey Begins

Complexity is a property that can be understood as emerging from a whole that has many interconnected parts. The more parts to take into account, the more complex. We start from the region of the Simplicity (corner bottom-left), and climb the Complexity slope to the upper-right : more goodness, more complexity. This is the result of Learning and Creating. The Design gets better. In the center of the map, we find a critical mass of complexity. But this is not possible to continue along this slope : the upper-right is off-limit. We start to get diminishing returns (law of the diminishing returns). Or worse, at some point, there are negative returns to our additions ! We start going north : The Complication Slope : more Complexity (actually this is Complication), and less Goodness for the user. The Region of the Complicated is on the Left-Top of the Map. Excessive complexity makes testing difficult, and increases fragility by multiplying the failures modes. Side Note: suspecting a feedback loop in both direction between our mental state confusion and our design complication. Complication can be avoided by removing redundancy in the design. If you are moving along the Complication slope : just stop now ! You could also take a nap , sleep, do something that refresh your mind (such as painting, …), renew your vital forces.

The Journey Continues

Genrich Altshuller’s TRIZ = Theory of Inventive Problem Solving: Try to remove one piece from a system, does is still work ? if yes, remove it. If no, try to replace it, then loop until final design. Saint-Exupéry: “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but rather when there is nothing more to take away.” Unfortunately, we resist trimming in order to avoid the “negative slope” (less complexity and less goodness). The Special Piece, is a part we find that enables to simplify a lot the design and remove other parts now useless. Sometimes, we need to go through a phase of complexity before we find that. It is not always possible to optimize before going through this phase (the “inelegant preparation zone”). The region of the simple with maximum goodness is a pure Zen ideal. But as time flies, the design gets less and less Good, because needs and technology evolve. So there is a cycle : from the left (simple and bad/useless) - up via the complex and not so good - then to the right (simple and good), and back again to the bad due to time. This is the Simplicity Cycle.

Using the Simplicity Cycle

The Simplicity Cycle acts as a “Spatial-Action Language” : a Language used and understood by team members doing a design, and expressing where they think they are in the map.

On Hard Work and Design

Trying really hard without making progress often indicates that something is wrong in our approach or in our understanding of the problem. We’ve maybe mistaken complexity for goodness. The Simplicity Cycle highlights that the path to increase goodness often involves removing unnecessary efforts rather than tolerating it. Sometimes a nap is of great help ! Mastery is difficult : it requires 10000 hours of practices to become a master in any field according to the book Outliers from M. Gladwell. Simlpicity is a tool given to the master. It is also not the point, goodness is the point.

The Doldrums, They Happen

Doldrums happen. Sometimes they are due to time : we are interrupted too often, and don’t find the time to complete the project. Sometimes, it is because we need to pause and shift our attention to another part of the project. Or sometimes, it means that we need to partner with other to be nourished with creative discussions, helping us to move forward (that was used by Feynman). Anyway, we need to be aware when the doldrums happen, and be ready to use techniques to avoid increasing complexity and reducing goodness when we are in it.

Travelogues and archetypes

Well-formed problems are not given. The most difficult is to identify the problem to solve to achieve goodness. Some typical situations in maps: - stuck on the porch (stuck in a bad and simple situation) : do something, even bad, but move ! Give yourself permission to do bad work ! Direction matters less than Movement in this situation ! - lucky : getting into flow when acting , going through the path of more complexity, more goodness, and final simplification, - course correction : getting bad and complex, and correcting to good and simple, - overcorrection : going back to less complex and less good : remember that the goal is to make the design better, not simpler - return to basecamp : this is going back to the start, starting over. - complacency : this is letting a good design drift back to simple and bad with time. We must strenuously avoid complacency. - the loopy path : using iterations, loops, to get to the right place. this is probably the best approach. - wandering : according to JRR Tolkien : “Not all those who wander are lost”. - getting lost An apprentice begins without knowledge, then he learns, explores, experiments, and gets more and more knowledge. This is good… until it isn’t anymore. Knowledge may be harmful when we idolize it. Goodness is the objective, not Knowledge. That’s the message of some religions : Wisdom is about simplicity.

Final Thought: on Maps and Journeys

Even the best map is incomplete. This book is only a starting point : actually design something ! Spend some time with the map, then head out into the unknown.

My opinion

I enjoyed this little book. The key idea is to think with a Map. As it turns out, a Map is a powerful visual metaphore to understand and describe a problem. Dan Ward has used a 2-dimensional map whose x and y axis are Goodness and Complexity values. This Map can be used to describe pretty well the somehow-intangible design activity. Then creative and mental process of a designer, or of a team, now becomes illustrated as a Journey on a Map. This is concrete, and highlighting. This generates a Spatial-Action Language of its own. There are also plenty of wise considerations regarding the design activity, simplicity, taking actions, and wisdom. This is really enlightening, the book of a master of Design.