Aaron Gerdes

“Less is more” has become a catchy rallying cry for the simplicity in software movement. Critics have been quick to contend that, in fact, “more is more” in the way of features.

The advocates of “less is more” are not petulantly arguing for Zen-like non-dualism. Less becomes more with an ideal ratio of user success to complexity. Any product/service or marketing strategy can benefit from improving that balance and cutting away features that diminish returns.

This debate is primarily focused on software. I think your industry can benefit from some of the same ideas too. I’ll try to abstract the discussions about programming to developing and designing your product/service.

I’ll blog some more on this and update this post as a jumping off point.

• Simplicity for gains in product/service quality.

• Simplicity to target your marketing.

• Create more results from less energy: fine tuning your ratio of process size to results.

• Specializing to the masses: Less is more and widespread appeal.