Complexity is a trap. We often think that adding more features, more layers of management, or more data points makes a project better, but usually, it just makes things break. Kelly Johnson knew this. Back in 1960, Johnson was the lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works. He’s the guy responsible for the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane—a machine that could fly at Mach 3. Yet, despite his high-tech environment, his design philosophy was brutally basic. He told his team that the jet they were designing had to be repairable by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions with only a handful of tools. He called it the Keep It Simple Stupid principle.
He wasn't calling his engineers dumb. Far from it. He was pointing out that systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated. It sounds easy. It’s actually incredibly hard.
The Engineering Roots of KISS
The acronym started in the U.S. Navy. It wasn't about being lazy; it was about survival. If a piece of equipment fails in the middle of a storm or a firefight, you don't want a manual that looks like an encyclopedia. You want a lever. You want a button. You want something that works.
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Most people today use the phrase as a bit of a joke, but in systems engineering, it’s a rigorous discipline. Think about the Apollo missions. While the technology was cutting-edge for the 1960s, the interfaces were physical switches. Why? Because you can feel a switch click even if you’re floating in zero gravity and your eyes are blurry from G-force. Digital menus would have been a nightmare.
Complexity is often a shield for people who don't fully understand what they are doing. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. That’s not my quote—that’s often attributed to Richard Feynman or Albert Einstein, and while the exact wording is debated, the sentiment is 100% accurate.
Why We Love Making Things Difficult
Psychologically, we are wired to equate "complex" with "valuable." If a consultant gives you a one-page strategy, you feel cheated. You want a 50-slide deck with Gantt charts and "synergy" diagrams. This is what researchers call "complexity bias." We tend to look at a complicated solution and think it’s more likely to be correct than a simple one.
It’s a logical fallacy.
In business, this manifests as "feature creep." Look at Microsoft Word. Honestly, what percentage of the features do you actually use? 5%? Maybe 10%? Yet, every year, software companies add more bloat because they think they have to justify a subscription price. This is the opposite of the keep it simple stupid mindset. When you bury the core function of a product under a mountain of "nice-to-haves," you lose the user.
Software developer Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, once noted that within C++, there is a much smaller and cleaner language struggling to get out. He wasn't kidding. Complexity creates "technical debt." Every line of code you add is another line that can have a bug. Every extra step in a checkout process is another chance for a customer to get annoyed and close the tab.
The Cost of Friction
Friction is the enemy of progress. In 2009, Google did a test where they increased the number of search results on a page from 10 to 30. They thought users would love more data. Instead, traffic dropped by 20%. Why? Because the page took 0.4 seconds longer to load.
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The user didn't care about the extra data; they cared about the speed. They wanted simple.
How to Apply KISS Without Being "Stupid"
There is a fine line between simple and "simplistic." Simple is elegant. Simplistic is ignoring the nuances of a problem. To keep it simple stupid, you have to first master the complexity so you can cut through it.
- The Scissors Method: Look at your project. If you had to remove three things without it breaking, what would they be? Do it.
- The "Grandma" Test: If you can't explain your business model or your project's goal to a non-expert in two sentences, you're probably over-complicating it.
- Avoid the "And" Trap: "Our app is a social network and a marketplace and a fitness tracker." No. It's a mess. Pick one.
In design, this is why the original iPod won. There were MP3 players before it with more features, better equalizers, and voice recording. But the iPod had a scroll wheel and one button in the middle. It did one thing: it played music. It was the ultimate embodiment of Johnson's philosophy.
The Modern Workplace Nightmare
We are currently living through a crisis of complexity in the workplace. Have you ever been in a meeting about having a meeting? That’s the death of KISS. Organizations grow, and as they grow, they add layers. They add "stakeholders." They add "approval workflows."
Eventually, it takes six weeks to change the color of a button on a website.
Reed Hastings at Netflix famously fought this by focusing on "Context, not Control." Instead of a 200-page employee handbook, they had a culture memo. Instead of complex expense reports, they had a five-word policy: "Act in Netflix's best interest."
It works because it's simple. When you give people a simple rule, they can follow it. When you give them a thousand rules, they find ways to break them or just stop caring.
Simplicity is a Competitive Advantage
If you're a freelancer, a business owner, or just someone trying to get through their to-do list, remember that the most "sophisticated" person in the room is usually the one who can boil the problem down to its core.
Don't be afraid of being seen as "too simple."
The most successful companies in the world—Apple, Google, Amazon—started by doing one thing extremely well. They didn't start with a "multi-vertical ecosystem." They started with a search bar or a bookstore.
Actionable Steps to Simplify Your Life Right Now
Stop looking for the most "robust" solution and start looking for the most "robustly simple" one. Here is how you actually do it:
- Audit your tools. If you use five different apps to manage your day, you’re spending more time managing apps than doing work. Pick one. Or use a pen and paper.
- Kill the jargon. If you find yourself saying words like "leveraging," "pivot," or "alignment," stop. Say what you mean. "We are using," "We are changing," "We agree."
- Design for the worst-case scenario. Just like Kelly Johnson's mechanic in the field, design your systems so that they still work when you are tired, stressed, or low on resources.
- Say "No" more. Every time you say yes to a new feature or a new commitment, you are adding complexity.
The goal isn't to be a minimalist for the sake of the aesthetic. The goal is to be effective. Life is inherently messy and complicated enough on its own. You don't need to help it along. When in doubt, just look at whatever you're doing and ask yourself if you've made it harder than it needs to be just to feel important. Usually, the answer is yes. Strip it back.
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Simplify. Then simplify again.