If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough
Three very simple questions to understand the context:
- 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?
- How often did these sessions start with a simple and clear definition of the consumer problem technology is trying to solve?
- 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:
- A successful technologists transforms the complexity of technology into simplicity for everyone else
- The sole purpose of technology should be to “simplify” consumer’s life and not complicate it
- Don’t start a technology conversation or strategy thinking about technology itself but the consumer problem you intend to solve
- If you cannot explain the solution/idea in a slide, you still have some ways to go
- 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
Local History & Genealogy Librarian
9yYou are quoting me there, Steve! Or rather, paraphrasing. That's part of Dellenbaugh's First Law of Usability which deals with the principle of 'the conservation of effort.'
HRIS Executive
9yAnother great quote along these lines, who's author I don't know: "It is simple to make something complicated; it is complicated to make something simple."
Commercial Sales in Southeast | Women in Tech | CSA SC Chapter Member Board of Directors | WyCiS
9yWow! Love this artice! I am a former educator now working in the world of technology. As an educator and former athletic coach, breaking things down and explaining is my forte, but I have found that many struggle with this. The skill of taking something, breaking it down into parts, and explaining in the simpliest terms in a sequence even sometimes, is something that is not easy for most. Putting information out there is one thing, but teaching information so that a person is able to remember and understand is strategic. This does not reflect lack of know ledge in some cases but lack of the ablility to break it down to a "1st grader level" as we call it. The key is to assume that no one knows and understands anything, start there. Thank you for sharing your ideals.
Chief Technology Officer
9yso true, most of engineers are start off with creating stuff then find customers and hope they will accept their creation.
Transformation Champion and Senior Innovation & Marketing Leader at Kimberly-Clark
9yLove that quote! So true. Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes on communication..."I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." - Mark Twain