"Can you give me an example or two of how a company failed through oversimplification?" This was one of my associates, asking for help with an article he was writing. The funny thing was, I couldn't think of a single example. I racked my brains, going through my own work, stories people had told me, things in the public domain that I had read about. But I couldn't come up with a single convincing example.
I suppose, I said, I have to admit that I am a little biased. In my past life as a turnaround specialist I almost invariably found myself battling excessive complexity, and my main weapon was ruthless simplicity. I followed an iron rule of only ever having three priorities. My first step on being appointed was to go through my predecessor's diary and cancel most of it. Cancel this project, not go this meeting, say no to this invitation...Concentrate on the three priorities in order to be successful. I did the same with the company; there were always marginal products, peripheral locations or pointless activities to cut out. When it comes to survival, simplicity is the key.
But our conversation got me wondering why the same principle applies even when there is no crisis. Why is it so easy to find examples of complexity causing problems, but not simplicity? I realised that there is a powerful, universal force at work. It is the organisational equivalent of entropy. Complexity is the natural state. It is where you inevitably end up unless you take determined action to the contrary. Simplicity is unnatural. and that is why it is worth striving for.
The biggest force towards unnecessary complexity is inertia. In many organisations it is hard to start new things, but it is even harder to stop old things. Every organisation I have ever seen that is more than three years old has some products which have passed maturity, some customers who just aren't worth serving any more, or some procedures which aren't needed any longer. Just as a ship acquires barnacles or a garden grows weeds, organisations accumulate obsolete activities.
You can do the wrong things. Or you can not do the right things. Or you can do too many things. All of these mistakes will damage you, and they are easy to make. It's not hard to find examples of each of them. Simplifying, on the other hand, is hard. But if you can do it, it can only help you.
