I can’t remember exactly when I came across this acronym but I do recall the impact it had. Keep It Simple Stupid seems just that ‘Simple’ but it is so easily forgotten as we try and create our business processes. We try and prevent any issues from occurring as we deliver our product or service; instead, we hinder ourselves with unnecessary complexity adding time and money to the bottom line.
Just like asking ‘Why are we making this change?” (See The Power of Why) there are some steps we can take to help keep things simpler.
The first is not to rely on a process or procedure to replace training and experience. It is a poor approach to think that a document should guide a user through without any supporting knowledge. This can lead to incorrect problem solving when things go wrong resulting in unhappy customers as product quality or service quality suffers. Training does not need to be all-encompassing but it should at least explain why activities are required as well as the consequences of them not being done.
The second approach is to question your assumptions regarding failures, will they all have an equal chance of occurring, if not do we even need to take steps to mitigate against them. Why add activities that are only intended to stop a failure that is unlikely to happen or is already being captured by another step or process. Is it better to keep it simpler therefore already reducing the risk of failure in the first place?
Another tenet I came across early in my career, “say what you do and do what you say”, has continued to help. Again this is aimed at keeping it simple. Only capture in a process those things you actually do, don’t capture the what-ifs as again they may never happen. If you want people to act appropriately when things go wrong train them to stop when something unintended happens and have them then follow a troubleshooting and root cause analysis approach to get back on track.
Finally never be afraid to admit that a process or procedure has become too complex, be willing to start again. It is true that processes evolve and even with the right mindset they can become more complex than intended. This is not a failure but a real opportunity to improve, learn and make it simple again. Just remember Keep It Simple Stupid.