Maestro Technologies - Intelligent management software for the construction industry.

Voluntary simplicity

Complexity is not a new phenomenon. Since man abandoned the caves and the hunter/trapper role, all of his actions have led to the development of an increasingly rich environment, however, it is also increasingly complex. The simple act of picking fruit and eating it has been replaced by the complex process of planting a tree, looking after it, waiting for it to produce fruit, harvesting the fruit, packaging it, shipping it to consumers, distributing it to points of sale and, finally, buying the fruit to eat it. However, for various reasons (ecological, economic and philosophical), we seem to have reached a point where an increasing number of people want to return to a simpler way of life. But is this really possible? Have we reached a point of no return that will stop us from returning to simplicity?

Ockham’s Razor
Few people are familiar with this principle. Although it dates from ancient times, it has remained a basic principle of science. Despite the fact that it was formulated long before his time, the principle was attributed to Franciscan monk William d’Ockham, who lived in the 14th century. His statement reads as follows: "That one should not multiply entities beyond necessity." ¹. Very simple in itself, this principle quite simply says that we must keep things simple. It was subsequently reread and interpreted many times. Many scholars, philosophers and writers have reinvented and reformulated it in many different ways. Among them, Isaac Newton said: "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances." and Conan Doyle, who inferred a variation, saying to Sherlock Holmes: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." ² But we must be reasonable by adopting a more practical interpretation of this statement: "When two things are equal, the simplest solution is always the best". ¹

Looking at our environment, we must admit that we have certainly not always respected this principle. Our ever increasing need for comfort and well-being is probably the major reason simplicity has been lost in our lives. Take for example the automobile, that has progressed in less than a century from a relatively simple engine, allowing us to travel from point A to point B with a minimum amount of effort and expense, to an ultra sophisticated engine complete with an entertainment centre, navigation aides, positioning camera and radar equipment and traction control, all at an ever-increasing cost and reliability that often leaves something to be desired. Tata, the aboriginal company, has just released the Nano, a minimalist automobile that has none of these complex and expensive systems ^{3 4}. Intended for emerging markets, could this ultra simple vehicle interest Westerners who claim to be searching for simplicity? The future will tell us...

Google
Since Maestro’s primary mission remains software development, I finally asked myself about the simplest IT application in existence. Naturally, I thought about Google which, with its unique text field, two buttons and several shortcuts, seems to represent simplicity at its best. After deciding to go have a look, I was surprised to find that the home page had been simplified again! From now on, when you access the www.google.ca site, the links to other Google functions are no longer immediately displayed. The cursor is placed in the search field and if you enter a few words and press Enter, the results page is displayed without anything else. The links are only displayed if you move the cursor.

Google has managed to simplify the most minimalist application. Was this for purely esthetical reasons? Not according to Marissa Mayer, Vice-President of the Search Products Department at Google: "Most people who go to the Google site want to perform a search and this specific and minimalist approach lets them focus on what they want right away". ⁵

Can this development principle be applied to all computer applications? All you need to do is follow the KISS principle ("Keep it Simple, Stupid") ⁶. This development philosophy that applies to a multitude of disciplines uses four letters to summarize that we must focus on simplicity as much as possible and that all unnecessary complexity should be avoided.

This brief overview has let us examine a few aspects of the concept of simplicity and showed us that it is possible to be simple and remain efficient. It will therefore be a constant challenge for Maestro, in the coming years, to continue developing complete and powerful applications that meet all of the requirements of the industry, but that remain simple to use.

Michel Fisette

Notes:
¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Ockham
²The Sign of the Four (1890), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
³http://tatanano.inservices.tatamotors.com/tatamotors/
⁴http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano
⁵http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/100/beauty-of-simplicity.html?page=0%2C0
⁶http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

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