Keep it SIMPLE. Keep LEARNING

I feel like quite often we mingle too much two concepts that are not fundamentally the same thing. For instance, to assume simple means also easy. But many things in life are fairly simple in terms of their goals and what we need to achieve, yet extremely hard to conquer.

Take someone who has a problem with alcohol addiction. It's a nasty thing to move away from, as anyone who has either managed to do it or still struggles with it can attest. But if you really think about it, it's quite straightforward, and thus simple, what you have to do: try to avoid being in situations where you are tempted to drink, and by no means make any exception to how much you can have. The success of an entity like AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) is precisely because it keeps things very simple. Taking one day at a time and assuming that you are in a lifetime problem: you are a drunker; you just happened to manage it by exercising sobriety as a daily habit.

Getting closer to topics you more often see around here, this is largely the same in the context of product development or any management of knowledge work, for that matter. There will be a bunch of things that are fairly simple but incredibly hard to master. Just a simple example: any method, framework, or way of working will easily recognize the importance of cross-coordination when you can't deliver things on an island, and that the remedy for that is bringing the different people together in a meaningful way (i.e., it's simple!) – yet one of the toughest things any organization tends to face in attempting to scale and maximize leverage.

It may get a bit harder and more complicated. Since quite often it is also not a matter of not trying hard enough... Because it is not about always trying over and over again the same way (particularly if things aren't yet working well enough). 

It's about keeping it simple but intentional and open to the feedback loop so you can LEARN, reflect, and adapt. That requires both deliberation (which also implies patience) and willingness to experiment in ways you can increase understanding – which has to lean towards not changing a lot in one go but rather one thing, seeing what happens, then another, observing and adapting again… and so forth.

It is precisely in that context that, from what I observe and can infer or at least hypothesize about, there is a risk of falling into the myth of the next fad, concept, method or framework in fashion.

If only we could adopt that new shiny thing… then maybe all (or at least many) our problems could be gone.

That is a recipe for overcomplicating things… Overreaching… And ultimately, more often than not, for frustration. A better alternative is:

Keep it simple. Keep trying, experimenting in a focused way (where you believe you can have an impact, as a hypothesis and/or based on some observations). It's likely going to be super hard. But it is likely more rewarding (as you see progress, outcome, and impact) -- specially if you keep learning.

ByRodrigo Sperb, feel free to connect (I only refuse invites from people clearly with an agenda to ‘coldly’ sell something to me), happy to engage and interact