"Simplicity isn't."

For the last three years I have been researching business and technology simplification with my colleagues at Gartner. We recently conducted a survey of 200 C-level leaders on the topic, and will publish the results shortly. Simplification is an intriguing topic, because it has a very high level philosophical/ spiritual angle, a practical product and process angle, and a strong technology, infrastructure and architecture angle. It also has both personal and professional relevance. Simplification is almost magical in that it allows you to achieve more with less. But it is also fraught with challenges and risks. We can easily cut muscle as well as fat, and damage the future by simplify the present. The art of good simplification lies in being able to distinguish bad complexity from good. And then there is challenge of being able to push through simplification initiatives whether there are trade-offs and resistance, and other more exciting projects for colleagues to think about. Put simply, simplification isn't simple. As part of this research I have discovered that simplification is a subject rich in quotable quotes from famous people. There should be a video attached to this post playing as you read this, with a scrolling list of quotes about simplification, starting with two from me. (Caveat - I used generative AI to find some of the quotes, so there may be a hallucination or two in there.) Wishing everyone a simple holiday season. #unthink #unask #unlearn #simplification