We live in a world where simplicity is so under-rated. Real erudition is surely to be able to explain something simply, in a language that's suited to the capacity of the audience. It's the genius of the parable.
It must be the zeitgeist because several of my colleagues have posted interesting pieces this week on aspects of simplicity: Janne Eriksson on Design Thinking (if IKEA designed process...); Tom Molyneux on applying Nudge thinking to process; Mark Cotgrove on complexity as a root cause of failure for most projects; and Chris Taylor on simplicity and user adoption.
After we'd listened to a presentation at the SharedServicesLink P2P conference yesterday, I turned to face the delegates on my table. It was going to be an embarrassing admission - I was, after all, representing a conference sponsor - but I determined to be brave. "I'm going to be honest with you", I said. "I don't actually know what ERS stands for". Turned out that I needn't have worried. Nor did anyone else on the table. And we'd all sat through a half hour presentation in which ERS was a constant reference. Even in the gripping but arcane world of touchless P2P, it pays to keep it simple.
Related Posts
26 Apr 2011 Process As Science And Art
21 Jan 2011 Think Simplicity, Think Process
Wow, what a great example of effective communication. You actually let the speaker know that you didn't understand the term instead of pretending that you did. Congratulations!
Posted by: Paul | 29 June 2011 at 01:14 AM