Simplicity

Have you ever given up trying to programme your video recorder or use a feature on your computer because the instructions are so complicated? Or wondered why it is so difficult to fill in a tax form? Modern life can be unnecessarily frustrating. Needless systems, processes, legislation and red tape only serve to increase our anxiety. Here Edward de Bono, the originator of lateral thinking, shows us how we can bring a little simplicity into our complex lives. The challenge of achieving simplicity requires a lot of creative techniques, including historical review, which asks whether something we traditionally take for granted is still necessary; shedding, where we eliminate what cannot be justified; bulk and exceptions, which deals separately with majority and extreme cases; and reframing, which can make us realise we are seeking solutions to a non-problem. Edward de Bono concludes his thought-provoking study with ten key rules for simplicity, and ground-breaking plans for an Institute of Simplicity and National Simplicity Campaign.