Minimum Viable Simplicity
Reduce work and communication to the few elements the outcome requires.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 99%
Minimum Viable Simplicity asks for the least process, information, skill, and explanation required to achieve an outcome reliably. The practitioner first identifies what truly matters, then removes steps and variables that do not affect it. Communication receives the same treatment: an idea should be explainable quickly enough that a newcomer can understand its value and mechanism. This compression requires expertise because people who do not understand a subject often compensate with jargon, caveats, and sprawling documents. The framework also treats habitual complexifiers as an organizational risk; unnecessary steps can produce uninspired compromises that attempt to satisfy every preference while serving no clear purpose. Simplicity is therefore created through rigorous understanding, prioritization, writing, and removal.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain as an adaptation of Josh Kushner's advice to simplify and eliminate complexifiers.
Core principles
- 01Creating simplicity requires deep understanding.
- 02Only variables that materially affect the outcome deserve complexity.
- 03Clear communication compresses ideas without losing their mechanism.
- 04Unnecessary process often signals weak prioritization or weak understanding.
How to run it
- 1
Define the Necessary Outcome
State what the process, document, or explanation must enable another person to do or understand.
Pro tip Use an observable result rather than a broad aspiration.
Watch out Without a clear outcome, every detail can appear necessary.
- 2
Inventory the Complexity
List the current steps, information, dependencies, variables, and stakeholders.
Pro tip Mark which elements directly change the result.
Watch out Do not assume an old step remains necessary because it is familiar.
- 3
Remove the Nonessential
Eliminate elements that do not materially affect the outcome or manage a credible constraint.
Pro tip Build the minimum viable process first, then add only proven necessities.
Watch out Never remove compliance, safety, or accuracy controls merely to make a process look elegant.
- 4
Translate for a Novice
Read the result from the perspective of someone with none of your background knowledge and rewrite unclear sections.
Pro tip Ask a real newcomer to explain the message back to you.
Watch out What feels obvious to an expert may remain invisible to everyone else.
- 5
Compress the Communication
Reduce the time and words required while preserving the core mechanism and value.
Pro tip Aim for a clear thirty-second explanation before expanding into detail.
Watch out Brevity that removes the causal logic is merely vagueness.
- 6
Remove Recurring Complexifiers
Identify people, incentives, or habits that repeatedly reintroduce unnecessary process and address the source.
Pro tip Challenge requests to account for every preference equally.
Watch out Do not label necessary dissent or domain expertise as complexity simply because it slows you down.
In the wild
A product leader rewrites a five-minute explanation by identifying the user problem, the one mechanism that solves it, and the resulting value. Supporting detail moves into an appendix rather than interrupting the core message.
→ More stakeholders understand the proposal and can make a decision without losing essential context.
Common mistakes
Accounting for Every Variable
Trying to incorporate every possibility creates process around factors that do not materially affect the outcome.
Writing Only for Experts
A document may make sense to its author while remaining inaccessible to everyone without the same background knowledge.
Confusing Simplicity With Shallowness
Good simplification preserves the mechanism and essential constraints rather than deleting difficult truths.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for leaders, writers, and operators designing processes or explaining complex work to other people.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when simplification would omit safety constraints, legal requirements, or essential technical nuance.
From the transcript
“But it is be a simplifier, eliminate complexifiers.”
“What is the minimum viable process, information, skills, whatever may be needed to do this thing?”
“Yeah, he had a great quote creating simplicity is complex.”
From the episode
8 Leadership Habits You Need To Make $1 Billion (#146)