Addition by subtraction
““Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry”
More often than not, my first approach to solving a problem was either:
a) Use more force
b) Add something else
Coincidentally (with no correlation, of course), my problems would only get bigger.
It wasn’t until enough issues refused to resolve that I tried a different tactic.
Take Brooks’ Law, for example.
If you work alone, there aren’t any lines of communication.
Add a second person, and one line of communication appears.
So, three people means three lines, but seven people means 21, and 11 people means 55.
Plus, if that doesn’t seem complex enough, each person has unique preferences, availability, and communication quirks.
That’s a lot of unpredictability.
Essentially, when you add more people to a project that’s already behind schedule, you introduce new communication overhead and delays because the existing team needs to train and integrate the new members.
When we started our company, we wanted to stay loose with three people:
Use any CRM, platform, note-taking system, messenger, or document storage you wanted.
We thought the freedom of choice to “work with what you’re comfortable with” would reduce the time for getting work done — we would figure out consolidation later.
Instead, it caused confusion.
So we eliminated everything, decided what we needed most, and agreed to keep all info in one place (vital for remote work).
(Shocker) we made progress much faster.
No more waiting for permission or dealing with endless delays.
And while that might may seem like a trite truism, sometimes we need to be reminded more often of the essential tactics that always seem to work.
This same idea applies to problem solving in general: cut out what isn’t essential.
Fewer moving parts = better traction.
Keep questioning
- why something is there,
- what it does,
- and whether it’s truly necessary.
If things fall apart, add it back.
You’ll be amazed how well everything can run without the stuff you once thought was “essential.”
— And if want to learn how to develop more traction, head over to readar.ai to find the right book for you to read next.
Keep seeking,
Michael
PS Meme — pick your poison