User:Academicgm/Theory of simplicity

The theory of simplicity says that "simple is better." The theory of simplicity implies that simplicity should be one of the major criteria when developing / assessing the health of a system. The simple systems are better as opposed to complex systems always since managing them will be easier given the shortcomings of human capacity and shortcomings of systems developed to manage other systems. Such systems could be organizations of any kind that require management or technical/mechanical systems (software, machines) etc. That's why, the theory of simplicity aims to offer methodologies, tools for the development and measurement of systems. By using these tools, one can create a simpler system or assess the simplicity of an existing system.

The simplicity tools can make it possible to assess systems based on all the parameters that are forming that system. For example, you can measure number of classes, lines of code, loops in a class etc. in a software program in the light of simplicity. Based on the conclusion, you can deem the software as complex and that's why deem it hard to manage, prone to errors and costly to build and maintain. Because, cost of maintaining a software is one to one mapped to its complexity. As the complexity increases, so does the cost of maintenance.

Another example would be to use simplicity criteria to assess the complexity of a firm. By checking number of managers in a division, number of products, number of employees, number of divisions, levels of hierarchy etc. you can deem a firm as complex. After reaching this conclusion, you can try to increase the efficiency of an organization by making it simpler. For example you can come up with a number that indicates what is the optimal number of managers in a hierarchy. If a certain hierarchy exceeds this number, the possibility of information loss/corruption, loss of control etc. increases.