Ian Landsman is Starting From Scratch, October 16, 2006:
Less is More …. Except When It’s Less
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I was thinking of this while reading the latest work happy post. I don’t know anything about the company he was reviewing and that’s not the point. The point is that he notes the company takes the “now common” less is more approach. I wonder if this concept has now jumped from good idea to even better excuse. The first time I really heard people pushing this in the web 2.0 sense was the 37 signals guys. They seem to do a good job with it. Perhaps something is starting to be lost in the translation?
I keep wondering if so many people have jumped on board now because it’s really just become an easy out for developers. “Oh, we’re not going to add that feature because we follow the less is more approach. Sorry, we feel it’s better to keep things simple for us”.
Isn’t the real trick not really to keep the software simple, but to make it feel simple? This is obviously much more difficult than an across the board less is more approach. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’ve definitely been seeing a lot of pretty lame “less is more” software out there lately. Maybe some of these folks need to focus more on customers needs and a bit less on making their life simple.
Discussion
Nope, You're dead-on, Ian.
I came across this realization when my friend and I started to add new features to an app we built to manage _just_ images. Now it handles all sorts of media, but is still as simple to use as when it was just images (hopefully?).
Created by Walker Hamilton on 10.16.2006 2:35 pm
Yes, it has gone too far, in my opinion. Simple is good unless you need to manage something complex.
There's a fashion to use unstructured information for every purpose opposed to structured. Many applications in the pas run to far in the realm of relational structures, but now we are exaggerating the other way
Created by Sevenoaks on 10.17.2006 4:02 am
Amen.
The trick is in making complex tasks *seem* simple.
Created by Gil on 10.17.2006 10:26 am
Such a smart post...you've hit the nail on the head. I think far too often developers use simplicity as an excuse to get their web app up quickly, rather than taking the time to look at the problem and provide the user with the right solution.
Created by Daniel Schutzsmith on 10.20.2006 12:16 pm
You are spot on Ian. I wonder whether we are confusing simplicity with usability, or subtly blending them together.
I would argue it it difficult to deliver simplicity as the number of features increase. If the industry/vertical the product is developed for is complex then the product will have to incorporate this complexity in order to be relevant and useful.
Usable software can have one or many features. It is possible (but challenging) to produce software with a rich feature-set that is usable - but not necessarily simple, if that makes sense! 
Created by Scott Carpenter on 10.29.2006 1:51 am
Yes, it probably is a better excuse than a good idea, however, in all cases the user will find it easier to decide "Is there content here or not?" and to me, that is the driving social force behind 2.0. Where is the content and how quickly can I get to it?
Created by beegee on 10.31.2006 9:51 am