If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough

Three very simple questions to understand the context:

1. How often have you sat in a technology presentation that is without the complex diagrams, architectures, integration and business context models and at times even more?
2. How often did these sessions start with a simple and clear definition of the consumer problem technology is trying to solve?
3. Lastly, how often did the sessions end without sharing any of those complex models or diagrams but still ended up explaining the core of the solution?

The answers may vary based on context but I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that more often than not, the response will be “not too often”.

Unbelievable how a statement made decades back is still so relevant and applicable in an era where technology innovation is at everyone’s finger tips. It is common sense you would think yet it’s missing within the attributes of a technologist who tends to correlate success with complexity and scale.

A few simple take away for me from this quote; a thinking while highly appropriate for technology but equally applicable to every other vertical:

1. A successful technologists transforms the complexity of technology into simplicity for everyone else
2. The sole purpose of technology should be to “simplify” consumer’s life and not complicate it
3. Don’t start a technology conversation or strategy thinking about technology itself but the consumer problem you intend to solve
4. If you cannot explain the solution/idea in a slide, you still have some ways to go
5. It’s not the complexity but the simplicity and usability of a technology solution that defines it’s success

I am sure you may take away something different and personally relevant for yourself from the quote but I am sure regardless of what you do with or without technology, we couldn’t agree more with the man who redefined logic – Sir Albert Einstein