“Vision without execution is hallucination.”
—Thomas Edison
“Complexity is the enemy of execution.”
—Tony Robbins
When we merge these two principles, we realize this: Vision without simplification is hallucination.
Vision without simplification is hallucination.
It’s great to have a vision. Big hairy audacious goals. Something to be fired up about.
But mixed with complexity, vision creates waste.
For example, take projects that have a clear goal but pursue it with too much of everything: too many people, too much time, too much “X.” Things quickly get complicated, and more often than not, the project becomes too big to fail, consumes all the X and more, and still falls short of the objective.
To realize your vision, first simplify.
Thankfully, many Agile principles treat complexity as Public Enemy No. 1:
- Reduce size. Break big, overwhelming entities into small, manageable chunks. This applies to anything big: a big project, a big team, a big company. Split it into smaller, simpler chunks.
- Eliminate dependencies. The chunks should be as independent as possible. Free of dependencies, each chunk takes on a life of its own.
- Limit work in progress. Prioritize what’s most important. Work on one thing at a time. Finish it before moving on to the next.
- Remove time as a variable. Establish routines and complete tasks within fixed intervals (timeboxes).
- Limit layers. Scrutinize every organizational layer. Management layers between the CEO and individual contributors. Intermediary layers between customers and developers. Decomposition layers in work breakdown structures.
- Boil things down to the essential. Value simplification to the lowest common denominator over context-dependent sophistication. For example, Scrum (the software development framework) has only three roles: Developer, Product Owner, and Scrum Master.
- Resist anything that adds complexity. Like distance between people or tools with all the latest bells and whistles.
If you appreciate complexity, confront it, and find a simple path that cuts through it—only then can your vision become a reality.
