Simplicity 🗻
I recently discovered the agile principles address simplicity: "Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential."
In the context of building, I'm attracted to simplicity for a few reasons.
The less we build, the faster we ship. Customers get their features for minimal cost. Builders maximize margins and get more time to rest.
We only need to maintain what we build. Given entropy, everything we build requires constant maintenance. A system already in equilibrium doesn't require effort from us to maintain. How can we meet our needs with minimal maintenance cost?
As a geology professor once said, "gravity is pulling everything down to sea level." We can work to ensure our inevitable failures are graceful.
Construction often requires destruction. I need to cut down many trees to build a house. I prefer to minimize harm.
I like the economic concept of creative destruction. Given all the above, we can maximize efficiency when we do need to act.