Complexity Archive - The Art of Communicating

The Lego Challenge

Let me tell you about a really interesting article that I read some time ago. It was about a Lego model, very similar to this one:

The model has a pretty unstable roof which puts the monkey in danger as it’s supported by only one brick in one corner.

Now, the researchers in that article asked people for their ideas on how to improve the stability of the roof.

Many of them had the idea of including a column at the front right or adding supporting bricks between the building and the roof.

Surprisingly few of them had the idea of removing something – like the single brick directly under the roof.

When you do that, you’ll achieve a very solid structure.

The researchers derived an interesting observation which they supported with more experiments. It seems that when we’re faced with solving a problem, we’re biased to add things rather than remove things.

And isn’t the same true for our communication?

I mean, when people don’t get what we mean, we often tend to include another argument, a metaphor, an anecdote, maybe a visual, or a table, throw more stats at them …

Rather than to take a step back, evaluate the structure, and ask ourselves, so which story has the best potential of resonating the most with our audience? Or which is the strongest argument?

And then really focus on that one.

Tweak it.
Refine it.

Until it’s razor sharp.
And crystal clear.

How would you have fixed the structure?

How do you approach this in your communication?

PS: In the meantime, researchers have added a little more nuance to these findings in a new article.

The Simplicity Initiative

Recently at Confused Corp, they launched the ‘Simplicity Initiative’.

In a team meeting, one brave soul asked, “What’s the goal of this initiative?”

The manager, shuffling through a stack of papers, answered, “It’s simple – to reduce complexity.”

As hands shot up with questions, he added, “Don’t worry, there’s a 10-part webinar series and a 500-page handbook explaining it all.”

The room groaned in unison, realizing the ‘Simplicity Initiative’ was anything but simple.

Unlocking complexity

Simplicity is not the opposite of complexity. It’s the prerequisite.

Deep inside, complexity is terrified of simplicity. It fears that simplicity would strip away the depth of a complex topic.

But that gets it upside down: it’s through simplicity that we unlock complexity.

Simplicity is the key that opens the door to deeper understanding. Without this entry point, complexity can be an inaccessible fortress.

But simplicity does more. It doesn’t just make complexity accessible; it ignites the curiosity and ambition to enter complexity and go deep into the fortress.

True sophistication in communication means inviting your audience, not excluding them.

Simplicity is that invitation.

It doesn’t make complexity go away.

It’s the key to unlocking complexity so that it feels simple.

It’s a sign of respect for your audience.

Simplicity

Contrary to popular belief simplicity is not the opposite of complexity but the prerequisite.

It’s through simplicity that we open our audience’s minds for the complexity underneath.

It’s through simplicity that we make sense of the underlying complexity.

Simplicity is the interface that helps us access complexity. And it’s your job to craft that interface for your audience.

Not so easy

Most questions that are worth investing the time to prepare a presentation for don’t have an easy yes-or-no answer.

If there would be an easy answer, we wouldn’t even bother with gathering everyone in a room. We would just send a memo to inform everyone about the answer.

One of the problems with meetings is that a lot of trivial stuff gets disproportionately overblown and floods the attention of participants. So, they tune out. And start not paying attention to presentations.

Another problem with meetings is when you pretend that there is an easy answer when in fact there isn’t. That’s a huge potential for frustration and a great way to start into fights.

Treating the team as smart takes you a long way. Some things are complex.

Smart teams don’t need complex things dumbed down. They need a way to make the complexity accessible. They need simple words to explain difficult concepts. And even then they appreciate it when we acknowledge that there’s room for different opinions on the matter.

Sophistication

Complexity tends to give the impression of sophistication. But actual sophistication lies in making things simpler, not more complex.

So, let’s not make this more complex than it needs to be. (But also not simpler.)

Curiosity has joined the party

Confusion’s best mate is Complexity.
Clarity’s best mate is Curiosity.

Luckily, Complexity and Curiosity are friends, too.

When you need to explain a complex idea with clarity, I’d suggest you invite Curiosity to the party, too, as she can help connect Complexity and Clarity.

Do not make the mistake of introducing All-at-once to Complexity, as the two will immediately start nerding so deeply about their expertise that it will lead others to quickly feel overwhelmed. Everyone else will get bored, roll their eyes, and tune out – except for Confusion, of course, who gets a kick out of it.

Curiosity, on the other hand, is a brilliant conversation starter that gets everyone involved. She has such a great intuition for what excites the others that it feels effortless for the group to dive from layer to layer of each and every detail. The deeper the conversation goes, the more Clarity will open up and engage in the discussion.

The best part: Curiosity just never gets tired of parties.

Why not invite her to your party, too? Curiosity would love to introduce Clarity to Complexity for you.

Adding features

Clarity is an infinite game.

When new ideas pop up or new features get added to the product, we need to adapt the story we tell.

The default approach is to just add the news to the existing story.

If we do this multiple times, we end up with a confusing mess.

A better approach is to evolve the story. Don’t merely add to the story but refine it. Don’t merely append but re-think how it all relates to each other.

Of course, this will be so much easier if you keep that in mind when you develop the new feature.

Clarity and complexity

Clarity doesn’t make complexity go away, it makes complexity accessible.

The purpose of clarity is to make the difficult feel easy. To give us an entry point to the rabbit hole. To light us a path through the mess that makes sense and is easy to follow. It makes the complex feel simple.

But of course when complexity is accessible, it can help to reduce complexity.

On the surface

Google’s search engine is incredibly complex inside and incredibly simple on the surface – basically a search bar and that’s it.

Many startups take a different approach. Rather than hide complexity, they surface it.

They want us to appreciate the complexity. To see the brilliance of their solution. They want us to be as obsessed about the nitty-gritty-deep-down-dirty parts as they are.

They want us to get it.

Google understood that that’s not what we want. We want our struggles solved. We’re happy to trust you in being the expert so that we don’t have to. We don’t want to become an expert in your field because we have our own passion that we’re the expert in.

We just want a solution.

The simpler, the better.

The irony is that that’s what we recognise as being brilliant. The simpler you make it, the less we have to deal with the complexity, the more we appreciate it.

(That’s why the “I’m feeling lucky” button is still present on Google’s homepage.)

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