2008 came to a close with a cup a coffee and a conversation with a friend about simplicity... about how to down-size and slow down... and have LESS of the unimportant, and MORE of the things that really matter.
Interestingly, I started out this week as the moderator of a two-day workshop regarding quality improvement in clinical care. The presenter briefly touched on the work of John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design. Maeda's early work in software engineering led him to his current work in design and technology. A couple of years ago, he wrote the 100-page book "Simplicity" as an exercise to record his thoughts on the matter. Absolutely simplistically brilliant. Read on...Law 1: REDUCE
I fully intend to track down and read this book. In the meanwhile, however, I've been catching up on one of Maeda's blogs... www.lawsofsimplicity.com
The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
Law 2: ORGANIZE
Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
Law 3: TIME
Savings in time feel like simplicity.
Law 4: LEARN
Knowledge makes everything simpler.
Law 5: DIFFERENCES
Simplicity and complexity need each other.
Law 6: CONTEXT
What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
Law 7: EMOTION
More emotions are better than less.
Law 8: TRUST
In simplicity we trust.
Law 9: FAILURE
Some things can never be made simple.
Law 10: THE ONE
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.
NOW... I'm off to simplify my day! Have a good one, All...
Saturday, January 10, 2009
simplicity
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Here is MUD's thoughts on a blinding flash of the obvious is a whole lot less than 100 pages:
ReplyDeleteReduce - Throw old worn out stuff away.
Organie - put the left over where it belongs
Time - Use it or lose it. Sometimes you want to just screw off so time goes away.
Learn - The more you learn, the less you understand so you learn more. Pretty soon you have a Doctorate and don't understand any of it.
Difference - If you don't understand the difference between simple and complex what the hell are you doing reading abook about it.
Context - If you have to apply meaning to things, they sure aren't simple. Or, you have a doctorate in obscure.
Emotion - Simple and complex don't have emotions, people do.
Trust - Life isn't simple or complex, they are what we make it. Trust me.
Failure - Life isn't binary so you are not screwed or not. Sometimes you just are half right not half wrong.
The One - Binary thoughts will get you into trouble again.
MUD the Terrible, the horrible, the semi literate philosopher.