I have a lifetime of experience creating processes. It seems if my work life has one theme it has been to create a process to accomplish some given objective. I have created so many of them, that I cannot remember them. I have saved my email inboxes since I started having my first email address. The other day, I opened one of them with a tool that allows you to do that sort of thing. It was an inbox from the early 2000s. I decided to pick this same month in 2001 and read through my email chains, and sure enough I was working on a process that I have long since forgotten. Process.
There are a few truths that I have learned along the way. These are maxims if you will, that I consider each and every time I try to create a new process to follow to accomplish a goal. The first one is the most important and that is this: The process that you follow will be infinitely superior to any other process.
This is a concept beat into me after years of failures, false starts, and abandoned plans. I have learned the hard way that any process you create is worthless if you do not follow it. This seems obvious to me now, but for some reason, while I was in the thick of trying to create a process, I did not consider the efficacy of the process I was working on. This is due to the fact that we always get enthralled by the possibility and potential of a process that we envision. We see possible problems, and we bake solutions for those in our concoction. After a few rounds, we come up with a process that we believe will work. As we do this, the process inevitably becomes complex, difficult to understand, and difficult to follow. The process ends up stuck in design mode, and even initial attempts to follow it get stymied by further tweaking and revisions.
The best processes are simple and incredibly straightforward. They cut right to the objective in the straightest line possible. They take only a few moments to explain, and implementation of the process is clean and easy to do. Above all the process needs to be one that the initial hurdle to follow it is not difficult, so that when we start, we will follow it. Simple to follow is always a better ambition than solving all the potential problems.
Let me repeat that concept. When we work on a new process the goal is NOT to overcome all the possible scenarios where the process will have challenges or will run into exceptions. These things will get smoothed out over time, much like a smith will beat a piece of metal slowly through heating and cooling, our fledgling process will as well. Instead the goal of a new process is to be something that people will actually follow. You can create the perfect system that solves all potential issues, but if no one follows it, the system is worthless. A simple, clean, and easy to follow process will beat your complicated well thought through contraption every time.
I have seen this in business on a larger scale. A former company that I worked for, had at the roots a very simple process. Put a bunch of people in cubicles, market heavily for common products, and have these people field the requests in mass. This scaled very rapidly, and before long, the company was one of the largest in the market. This “secret sauce” was not all that secret. It was just doing the essential thing well enough and then scaling it. Later, after the company became a large enterprise, well-intending people started to try to improve the company by creating processes. Over time, complicated processes, on top of complicated processes, created an expensive and difficult machine to operate. People started wanting to move away from this core business model and try new things, which they have done so repeatedly over and over again. Hundreds of new processes have been created, only to discontinue them after a few short months and then try something new. All the while, the harsh reality kicks in that they have never been more successful than they were in the initial model.
That model did not do better because it was better. That model did well because it was simple. Easy to follow, easy to implement. The objectives were clear and straight forward. There maybe a better business model that will work, but I will guarantee that it will be the simple one that wins. This is because the simple is what people will follow. That is all that matters when considering what path to take. Which of these will I and the people following me stay on? That is the right path, even if the path is not all that glamourous.
In conclusion, the most important lesson I’ve learned through years of creating and refining processes is this: simplicity reigns supreme. Complex systems often seem attractive in theory, offering solutions for every potential challenge, but they rarely survive the realities of implementation. The processes that succeed—the ones that drive real progress and lasting success—are those that people actually follow. They are clear, direct, and unburdened by unnecessary complications. The elegance of simplicity lies in its ability to move things forward without hesitation or confusion. Ultimately, it’s not about creating the perfect process, but rather the process that people will adopt, stick to, and execute. This principle applies in any context—whether you’re managing a team, scaling a business, or just trying to improve a personal routine. Keep it simple, stay the course, and success will follow.
While I agree that a simple process can be good, I think the key is to avoid making it overly complex not just make it simple. My background is in the semiconductor industry, which requires engineers to follow a lot of complex processes in order to make a working chip. And that’s just on the design side. There is similar, if not more, complexity on the manufacturing side and the only way to make it work is to create a process, follow it rigorously and continuously improve it. Process improvement doesn’t necessarily imply it becomes less simple, but the focus needs to be on improving the process, not just simplifying it.
I was thinking of more trivial things, like doing my laundry. Yes, of course there are areas where things like quality control are of critical importance. Continuous improvement is probably a whole other thing to write about. I do believe that even in these environments, left uncheck, humans will gravitate toward making things unnecessarily complex.