Making Complexity simple and not Complicated

Simplicity and being simple has become a commonly heard mantra in marketing. But what does this really mean. I started thinking about this and arrived at the thought that there is a distinction to be made between COMPLEX and COMPLICATED

COMPLEX is a fact – means many factors, ideas, pieces of information inter-twined, requires thought to see the patterns, at first sight it seems intelligible…The challenge in a world getting faster and demanding fast fixes is this takes time and effort.

COMPLICATED is making something be, or appear, more complex than is needed.  Corporate processes and communication methods often do this to us.

But if something is in reality complex why do people not want to recognise this?  Often I think people criticize things they do not get as  complicated/complex because a

1.  It’s an easy way to avoid having to think about something (they  are happy to stay ignorant)
2. It means they have no responsibility in the communication – it’s your problem (they are happy to be arrogant)
3. They don’t want to or know what questions to ask to understand it (they need education)

Making something SIMPLE means presenting the information and COMPLEXity in an order, and at a level, that tells a story that the audience can understand.  To understand the audience, and what they are trying to achieve, is therefore key.  That means seeing the world from their point-of-view.  If you fail do this you produce material that is seen as complex and complicated.

Personally, I have to work constantly on being SIMPLE, simply because I like exploring the complex, and that means getting into the detail before “surfacing” simple, the patterns and structures that drive the apperent complicated relationships.

It’s arguably easy and quite quick to write 50 slides, BUT it is less easy and more time consuming to turn this into 2 charts that distil the essential point to be made and relevant….but maybe that is the added value.