Simplicity is the best policy

SIMPLE
Conquering the Crisis of Complexity
Alan Siegel and Irene Etzkorn
Business Books (Random House)
236 pages; £12.99

Earlier this month, Samsung, the world leader in smartphones, unveiled a wristwatch device that can make phone calls, surf the Web and take photos. The device syncs with tablets and smartphones using Google Inc's Android software to make phone calls. A built-in speaker facilitates hands-free conversation, while its voice recognition feature allows users to draft messages, set the alarm and check the weather. If you are yearning for more, this device has a fitness tracker and works with about 70 applications, according to Samsung.

Phew! Going by the race - Sony, Apple and Qualcomm have already thrown their hats in the smartwatch ring - one might conclude that a majority of us dig complexity and love it when our devices have the kind of controls that would confound even an inveterate puzzler.

So, is simplicity redundant? Is there proof that the greater the degree of complexity the better are the chances of a product or a device notching up scarce market share?

It's good to see there are some people who still think simplicity is a business necessity, and not simply a corporate frill. In that sense, Simple, by Alan Siegel and Irene Etzkorn, is a refreshingly different book, especially at a time when business authors have set their minds on showing how to make sense of the chaos and mayhem in the world of business today and emerge a wiser leader.  

But first, what triggered the authors' quest for "simplicity"? Mr Siegel says it is the result of a personal experience. In the mid-seventies, he was working as a consultant for First National Bank (now Citibank). The organisation asked him to redesign all the forms it used in its retail operations. Mr Siegel found that many of their legal contracts, notably instalment loan notes and mortgage loan documents, were impenetrable and even frightening - certainly not the kind of documents a bank that was promoting the image of being a global leader that was responsive to consumers would want to give to increasingly sophisticated customers. Mr Siegel pushed First National to go beyond just redesigning the documents to making the content clear and accessible to its customers.

For this purpose, he reorganised the document to reflect the way a consumer would review it, starting with the computations, working through the payment schedule, conditions of default and other related issues. The document had radically simplified language that could be understood by someone with a high school education, and a design format that balanced the integrity of a legal document and, at the same time, projected to the consumer that is was something that could be read. It took a year to get the bank's CEO to approve this radical change; the simplified instalment loan note was introduced with great fanfare. Surprisingly, research showed that the biggest beneficiaries were the employees, who were excited about the ability to interface with customers and answer their questions without having to go to the lawyers.

The experience confirmed to Mr Siegel that there was a real opportunity in business and government to do this kind of simplification. He decided to set up a specialist outfit to provide this service. The book is the result of his experiences in dealing with various clients.

The second question is: why are products and product documents so complicated to begin with? The authors say many companies are not particularly interested in simplifying things because it requires a change in mindset and the lawyers always create an obstacle. Firms that have been in business for a while will generally have a harder time introducing simplicity into their culture because it will threaten employees who can't live up to standards, reduce the number of employees, disrupt relationships with vendors and suppliers, and will involve significant changes that always unsettle people.

This complexity is reflected in all things that come out of most corporations. The authors just stop short of saying that some companies purposely try to obfuscate; they say most corporations just haven't appreciated the value of simplification. Fortunately for these corporations, consumers have come to accept things as they are. Most consumers have this "learned response" that since they can't read documents and can't do anything to have offensive provisions taken out, they blindly sign anything.

The authors don't leave it at that. The antidote is right there in the book, though it is a tad patchy. What these companies can and should do, the authors say, is have their business practices audited, and put together a team to investigate where simplification may be used to enhance their position in the marketplace in order to build employee and customer loyalty and enthusiasm. Although this takes time, is disruptive and costs money, the enormous benefits vastly outweigh the year or two it will take to instil simplification in the company.

The good news is, with the advent of the internet, consumers can group together and pressure companies to eliminate offensive provisions in their contracts. This is particularly true of internet contracts, as we've seen with Facebook and Google. The authors conclude that there will finally be effective pressure on business and government to simplify their communications.