Simplicity, the art of maximizing the amount of work not done, is essential

The first thing to check is that we are not reading the principle too quickly, but actually reading it and absorbing the detail that’s written.

Simplicity, the art of maximizing the amount of work not done, is essential

1. Simplicity 

2. The art (not science)

3. Maximising the amount of work not done

4. Is essential 

The 1990s

A great t-shirt in the run up to the millennium read; 

Jesus is coming

Look busy

That summed up how things were. Success in a team wasn’t always about delivering the most valuable items, but just demonstrating how busy you were. Even when you did have a leadership team that wanted new ideas to be evaluated for value it would entail ROI calculations and the value of any work had to be calculated.

Moreover, if you had a time machine and went back to the 1990s, you would observe one behaviour above them all: projects never stopped until the project was closed.

The intent of this principle

Why have this slightly cryptic principle that talks about keeping it simple, art and stipulating that this one is essential.

To begin with, the choices here are simple, do or no not, there is no try. Ambiguity of whether we develop something or not is not helpful. The art of this is about just knowing that something is of value and not pretending that any of these ROI projections and the spreadsheet that came up with them can hold any water.

The most important part of the principle is the latter half, here the principle is granting permission to stop working on the stuff of lower value and always focus on priority first.

Today (+20 years on)

WIP limits in Kanban is perhaps the best application of this principle. Kanban actually forbids a team from starting a new thing before someone in flight is closed. Couple this with the constant review and prioritisation of the backlog and Kanban is an art form.

The backlog might well be the best tool on offer for applying this principle, on a Kanban board and it’s a strong visible presence to demonstrate how value can flow. Flow, in itself is what Agility is measures on, but the output of this is covered in other principles so we will leave that here.

What might demonstrate anti patterns

• Complex Kanban boards

• A team that starts work before finishing the last commitment

• A team that has multiple high priority outcomes

• A team that lasts discipline and excuses it

You can easily get this right, you can easily get this wrong.