Simplicity ~ Making my way through the chaos

I noticed that I seemed to be saying 'there has got to be an easier way,' quite alot recently and by 'easier' I mean a 'simpler' way. What intrigued me was that I wasn't saying 'there has got to be a better way' but rather 'there has got to be a simpler  way.' Which got me thinking - is the result of all the chaos that we found ourselves in last year, a desire now to move to the more simpler things in life?

And so in search of the truth, I turned to the one person that I know who would have the answer - Edward De Bono. Dusting off my copy of his book 'Simplicity' (Penguin Group; 1998) I turned immediately to page 279 and read the 10 Rules of 'Simplicity'

1. You need to put a very high value on simplicity
2. You must be determined to seek simplicity
3. You need to understand the matter very well
4. You need to design alternatives and possibilities
5. You need to challenge and discard existing elements
6. You need to be prepared to start over again
7. You need to use concepts
8. You may need to break things down into smaller units
9. You need to be prepared to trade off other values for simplicity
10. You need to know for whose sake the simplicity is being designed
    

Well, nobody said it was going to easy - or - simple for that matter. However, armed with these 10 Rules, I am determined to embrace 'simplicity' but leave you with the final word from De Bono 'In an increasingly complex world 'simplicity' is becoming one of the 4 key values.'

Here's to the simple things in life.

ian