Posts Tagged ‘simplicity’

With all the options to connect to people, save links and blogs, read articles, store data, search for information, and do just about anything else on the computer, it is all starting to seem a bit overwhelming. Too many ways to access data means too much time on the computer and lack of efficiency.

To be honest, I love technology and am usually one of the first to try something new. Lately though, the options have become too numerous and it is hard to keep track. It is no longer just finding something that is better and using it. Programs and applications on the web (especially networking sites) change with fads. A good example is Myspace and Facebook. Myspace was one of the largest networking sites growing at an amazing rate, and then it stopped being popular. It is true that it wasn’t really that well designed, but more than that it just wasn’t “cool” anymore. People started switching to facebook.

On one hand all the options are good. It means that you can communicate he way you like. The bad part is it means that you will spend more time on the computer and internet keeping track of your contact and making sure that you are using the same applications and sites as your friends. It takes time to get design your site the way you like it and build up your fiends, and then when a new site starts you have to do it all over again. Then there are others like LinkedIn or Plaxo. No one wants to keep 3 or 4 address books, but that’s exactly what we are doing.

Then there are all of the websites that allow you to track and share links make various functions easier. These would include Evernote, Del.icio.us, twitter, Stumble, and Digg. You can see a full list at Go2Web20.net.

Having to many options makes the web and the computer much less efficient. People are building a lot of niche applications that have a purpose, but aren’t important enough to fuinction alone. So many of them become popular and then fade away.

I think what we should work towards for what everyone is calling web 3.0 is consolidation and simplicity. Less signing up and more efficiency.

I recently went to see a presentation by Garr Reynolds, titled “Presentation Zen” and was quite inspired by the simplicity and innovativeness of his slides. You can view his website here. Though the slides were extremely simple, many times without any words at all, I was more moved then I had ever been by a presentation. After the event, I started reading (listening to) books about creativity and simplicity. The first of which was an audio book titled What is Zen by D.T. Suzuki. While listening to the audio program I was thinking how many times the best solution to problem is the most simplistic one. How many of the ideas the effective methods I have learned were truly simple.

Most seem to have forgotten this principle of simplicity. Even here in Japan, where the culture has been greatly influenced by Zen ideas. Tokyo is full of technology, complex railways, crowded shopping malls. Many Japanese houses are now over-filled with items and I think Japanese fashion is among the most complex in the world. People feel they need to be able to multi-task to be efficient. However, there are now many studies showing that it is much more efficient to focus on one task at a time. Try it at work and see if it is the case for you. It is hard to focus on one thing without being distracted, but I have been able to accomplish a lot more by doing so.

The other book I read was titled Creativity in Business by Michael Ray and Rochell Myers. This book was quite different than I thought it would be. It was focused mainly on creativity and how to allow yourself to be more creative. How to be creative in business was more of an afterthought. A main focus in this book was to keep things simple and rely on your “inner essence” or gut feeling. Things I generally didn’t consider when making work decisions. I realize now that my gut feelings have usually been correct if I listen to them, but many times I tend to over-analyse the situation. The idea is to let the idea come to you rather then trying so hard to force the answer

For the last few weeks I have been simplifying my work by breaking it into smaller sections and this has proved to be quite efficient. Allowing the answer to come has actually allowed me to solve problems much quicker. It has also relieved a lot of stress.