Whether economically or emotionally, the business costs of complexity are enormous. Even before the new crown virus changed our lives and work styles, the huge impact of automation and the continuous system upgrades and skills upgrade requirements have greatly increased the pressure on people at work.
The human desire for simplicity has a long history. As early as the Middle Ages witnessing the emergence of new technologies such as printing and mechanical clocks, a Franciscan monk named Occam warned: ” If it is not necessary, do not add entities ” -this pair of minimalism The call for doctrine is what people today call the “Occam’s Razor Principle.” In the 20th century, there was also a loud slogan that was used to combat complexity, that is, the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid) of military design .
What about the 21st century? We also need to define it in a new language and reconstruct it in a digital world. The key is to limit people-oriented psychology and cognition to the central position of the enterprise, which means that we must recognize and respect that although the capabilities of machines may be unlimited, humans are not.
There is a way to avoid being overwhelmed by complexity. First of all, we should clearly list what we want to achieve-use a number to define simplicity, and give a shape to the process of managing complexity. Simplifying the process will make things more organized.
The number is 6, and the shape is a hexagon.
Hexagonal thinking
In nature, hexagons are one of the most resilient and space-saving shapes.
Snowflakes are composed of small hexagonal ice crystals.
Carbon is one of the most abundant and important elements among all elements. It is the key to making ultra-light graphite and other materials. Its strength is 200 times stronger than steel.
Saturn, which is the sixth farthest from the sun, has a peculiar moiré composed of carbon atoms, known as “Saturn’s hexagon” (Saturn’s hexagon).
The honeycomb built by bees is made up of many six-sided waxy hives and is called “superorganism”.
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After determining simplicity as a guideline, what can managers learn from the hive and the bees? Like us humans, bees are a highly organized social species. They have complex communication systems (tentacles and the famous “swing dance”), and they live in large communities that are very much like corporations: thousands of interconnected individuals, taking on a single, clear role. They are also very loyal to their own populations, building, nurturing, protecting, creating and foraging together. They are organized in a bee-like democratic way. Similarly, like us, they also need sleep and rest, and they also feel stressed. And we are just like them, because in the era of smartphones and “always online”, we often live and work in the same place.
But how do they succeed where we sometimes fail? Because bees will set boundaries and adapt to changes. For example, they have fixed roles and responsibilities, ranging from foraging worker bees to caring for worker bees, but when it is necessary to build a new hive, they can always unite with each other regardless of.
Obviously, this is just a simple analysis of a complex operating system. But this is the key. Recognizing the attributes of numbers 6 and hexagons is to provide people with tools and intuitive guidance to build paths from complex to simple. The ultimate goal is to improve people’s happiness and have better strategic thinking. This management practice can be called “hexagonal action”. It encourages leaders to rank their priorities with the following six-character proverbs: “Keep it simple” and “learn from” nature).
From CAT to KISS mode
Within the company, the decision to fight complexity must be conscious and purposeful, and it must penetrate all levels of the organization from top to bottom. If you give people too many things to do in an overly complicated way, they will start to resist and fail to complete the task.
Living according to the KISS principle means that you must be determined to pursue clarity and avoid decision fatigue, because in that case, too many choices will limit people. You need to realize that when a to-do item is crossed out from the list, it is also considered a “complete”, which is a great liberation.
From chaos and complexity to oversimplification, simplicity is in this spectrum and it is a balanced correction. Yes, you can have multiple product series, and there are many different iterations and requirements in design, software, manufacturing, sales, service, etc. However, at any time, the principle of simplicity can ensure that you choose to be effective at this moment s things.
Simplicity is the intersection between clarity and surprise. When you simplify things, the clarity you get is wonderful and often surprising. On a very practical level, many managers will suffer from “CAT syndrome”-experiencing torture of complexity and anxiety, and at the same time can be used to find the perfect combination of simplicity and functionality (Time) Too few. They are held back by indecision and overwhelmed by the excessive cross-device, platform, time zone, and time frame connections in life. They will feel that the decisions they have made are not necessarily correct.
For example, the head of a multinational multi-stakeholder organization has been troubled by complicated and overly detailed communications. His work is full of various shared files, various calendar reminders, and various paperwork. The more complicated the system around him, the more he felt powerless. After applying hexagonal thinking, he made several key decisions. First of all, he will adopt the “three strike out method” (or “half-hexagon method”) in the process of planning: if a meeting is tried three times and cannot be arranged and fixed, then cancel it. Second, he stipulated a “six-person rule”: the number of people participating in e-mail, telephone or actual meetings should never exceed six. These practices allowed him to focus and clarify matters, reflecting his desire to improve decision-making and reduce complexity.
In other words, the manager switched his CAT—complex, anxious and time-critical work life to KISS mode: keep it simple, sweetie (keep it simple, sweetie). This marks a change in attitude and working style.
Six principles
People who adopt these principles have more agile, leaner thinking and behavior, and more dexterous handling. They will follow the following six basic principles:
1. There are boundaries. They know the limits and adhere to them. Avoid exceeding your working memory and attention cognitive load. They will not switch back and forth between digital devices and complex meetings, unless a buffer is planned between the two-for a short period of time or for different activities.
2. Know how to reset and rest, and how to stay “always online”. They believe that simplicity will allow them to accomplish more things in different ways, not less. Working all the time will inevitably lead to failure.
3. Leaders who practice the KISS principle will treat the schedule as if they were their bodies. They control what’s on their schedules, just as they care about what they eat and drink. Knowing when to stop, you often choose to set up a special time block to send and receive e-mail, or do some work that does not require Internet connection and requires serious thinking, and may only use pen and paper.
4. Recognize and accept the human scale, as well as neuroscience research on human cognitive load, and how it affects every employee and customer in the organization. They find a balance between the speed and scale of reality and technology. They rarely talk about data and databases, but more about people and “human foundation.” In other words, they will ask everyone and every team what they can do with or without technical support, instead of directly assuming that the technology is the best—even if it is the best. They put people at the center of job execution.
5. When modeling teams and projects, the principles of hexagons are applied based on geometry and the science of shapes, networks, efficiency, and patterns. For example, in PPT, the effect of hexagons is much better than overlapping circles.
6. Treat the organization as a superorganism. Organizations are full of personal and collective ingenuity, insight, and wisdom. People want to serve this organization in countless ways and share them with each other, just like efficient bees. A leader who uses the hexagon principle to think will apply the hexagon structure to simplify complexity and embrace what is really important. They always “keep it simple, dear” forever, forever, because it is the most effective s solution.
Unless we consciously change our thinking and behavior, how to simplify complex things will be an eternal challenge. As Steve Jobs said: “Simple may be harder than complex: you have to work hard to make your thinking clear and keep it simple. But in the end it is still worth it, because once you do this, you can create miracles.”
intelligence
#Chain reaction is happening #
Three opportunities brought by the war epidemic
The Black Death in the 14th century led to modern employment contracts; the cholera epidemic in the mid-19th century gave us urban parks and fundamentally improved infrastructure; the Spanish flu of 1918 revolutionized healthcare . What will we encounter this time?
▨The crisis pierced our bubble-in a good way. Today, we have to think deeply about all issues, nothing takes for granted. This means that we can finally find the will to create huge changes.
▨The crisis creates new needs-you can solve them. Viruses disrupt the way we live and work, creating a variety of new markets, and new solutions make it possible for new technologies that we cannot even imagine today.
▨The crisis has changed the rules-getting better. Consumers have adapted to the lifestyle under the new rules. Once the virus is under control, they do n’t want to go back to the past.
#How to reach a new balance from conflict #
Too busy to breathe? Try contradictory thinking
Multitasking at all times and increasingly blurred work and life all make us at a loss. Whether the two can be balanced depends on whether we have the ability to learn contradictory thinking, and use “both / yet” instead of “either or not” to view this era of change and uncertainty.
▨Reexamine the problem. For example, replace “Should I change direction or continue what I have been doing?” With: “How can I continue and change?” By changing the problem, or discovering new ways to solve both problems. At a higher level, these two goals are usually complementary.
▨ Accept tension and find comfort in discomfort. Not to escape it, but to learn to control the discomfort caused by the contradiction.
▨ Open the distance to the problem and find new possibilities. Seek advice from others to get different perspectives, and use contradictory thinking to think about how to find a comprehensive solution to the problem.