Every leader wants simplicity. Few are willing to do the hard work it takes to get there.

The Simplicity Trap

Simplicity sounds clean and effortless. But clarity is messy to create. The paradox is that a beautifully simple solution almost always requires a frustrating amount of effort, iteration, and emotional outlay.

To get to the core of an issue, and identify the two or three levers which have outsized impact on the outcome, you have to refine away the noise.

There is no shortcut.

How to Get to Simplicity

People have told me that I have a unique ability to cut through the noise and get to the core of an issue. I don’t know how I acquired this skill. It’s kind of like asking a fish what water is.

Here’s my process:

• Take in massive amounts of information
• Think about the problem for days on end
• Try to work on something else, but quickly get angry or frustrated and return to the initial problem
• Have a breakthrough
• Present to your customer
• Repeat

My path works for me. Your mileage may vary.

However, there’s a method to my madness:

• Think about the problem
• Have a breakthrough
• Present to your customer for feedback
• Repeat

There’s never really a “wipe the dirt off our hands” moment where you’ve reached the end of the problem. It’s more about settling for good enough. Or, the money or time has run out and you have to move on. Or, this is as much as the customer needs right now.

My initial drafts are often way too complicated. I spend a lot of time trying to sell vitamins to people who have a splitting headache.

The hard truth is: Most businesses have no idea what happened last week.

Neither do people.

Without focused thought, I couldn’t tell you what I ate for dinner last Tuesday. It’s a human condition to have near-instant amnesia about what happened yesterday. It’s a blessing and a curse. We look to the future as the promise of change or as a blank slate. We forget that we’re most likely to do what we did before.

And so we have to repeat and iterate on the solutions we present to customers. To find the levers which truly drive change, we have to iterate.

Because no one knows what happened last week.

There’s no path to the truly great except through hard work.

So How Do You Get to Simplicity?

• Do the hard work.
• Iterate.
• Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Let’s get to work.

Shaun Davis, your personal data therapist, understands your unique challenges and helps you navigate through the data maze. With keen insight, he discerns the signal from the noise, tenaciously finding the right solutions to guide you through the ever-growing data landscape. Shaun has partnered for 10 years with top data teams to turn their data into profitable and efficiency hunting action. Learn more about Shaun.