Think Simple

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. — Albert Einstein

Running product and engineering teams in a multicultural distributed startup demands efficiency. At ProDeal, we try to increase efficiency by avoiding issues that can be avoided, and by skilling up. And we apply this philosophy to communication and security.

As the Head of Technology, I’m very much concerned with both communication and security.

In this article, I’ll focus on the former — communication.

Wait… I’m Confused?

People have expectations, they misread, they assume. Very human of us. That cannot be avoided.

What we can avoid is complicate, talk hypotheticals, make things complex, talk in terms that don’t mean the same to both you and me, etc.

That’s why we strive for simplicity in verbal, written and visual communication.

Repeat and Imitate

If what you’re producing is not simple — repeat, rewrite, redraw until it is simple enough.

If there is a chance of what you are saying being misunderstood, go for clarity every time. […] It is said that if someone doesn’t understand something you say, they won’t be listening to what else you say, because they are still stuck trying to find meaning to what they didn’t understand.

Still not satisfied? Listen to what the best of us are doing and imitate.

Convention over Specification

One of the strategies to achieve simplicity in communication is getting people used to standards and conventions. Terms that mean the same thing to the whole team.

This reduces unnecessary explanations. Whatever you do, consider getting people used to the ways, means, tools, colors, buttons, drop-downs, phrases…

This is one of the reasons why we make UI controls scalable right from the start. We don’t want to be in the situation to redefine the looks and interactions of ever-growing lists every time we need to add a new item to the list.

Minimalism

People are overwhelmed with the number of choices in their everyday lives. And you are, too.

Concentrate on the important parts. Have a bit of faith in people’s imagination. Reduce the anxiety of making the wrong choice.

Offer less to provide more.

If everything is important, then nothing is important.

All this saves us a lot of time in communication both internally and, especially important, externally. This alone will skyrocket efficiency within your organization.

Think simple, speak simple.