K.I.S.S.!
KISS is Keep It Simple Stupid!
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men. Although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. - Bertrand Russell.
I have shared with people this principle before, some thought I was joking, others do not understand. It is a popular maxim used as a reminder to avoid any unnecessary complexity. The theory or hypothesis with the minimum of assumption wins. Of the equivalent theories and/or explanations with all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred. Instructions and function creeps when KISS principle fails. Why do you put your right hand across the back of your head in order to scratch an itch on the nose?
Things should never be made to be more complex or more complicated than they need to be. You have to understand in no uncertain term that you should never add something that is not required. Albert EInstein's maxim was that "anything should be made simple as possible, but no simpler." Leonardo Da Vinci's maxim was: "Simplicity is ultimate sophistication". In today's world, the market place has too much noise. You are bombarded with all kinds of unwanted information, spams, emails, flyers, smses, TV commercials. How many commercials do you really remember and why do you like it? It is not just overflowing rain water that causes flood. We are flooded with too much information. I would like to think that "quiet is the new loud".
Even our then Chief Justice asked all lawyers to speak and write in simple, comprehensible English. Dr. Goh Keng Swee was a classic believer asking for example why people choose to use the word "sufficient" when you can use "enough".
There was a classic story of the space race between USA and Russia. This story may not be true but it offers a good illustration and provided a most apt description. NASA was to develop a pen that could work in zero gravity (since the ink could not flow down the pen when in space). They took a long time and spent US$40m to achieve it. The Russians? They simply use a pencil in space.
When we look under our noses and within ourselves, we can often find solutions to problems to provide clear information and crisp direction. KISS is about being effective in the simplest ways because if you don't keep things simple, you could end up being efficient but doing the wrong things. Just as how Bruce Lee would fight by using the most effective and simplest method to strike or to counter with ruthless efficiency. Instead of moving your legs, body and arms weaving patterns ten times, he would just "Strike!!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_nnQCYcPqg
Needless to say, on the golf course, you get onto the green in regulation and do a minumum par. If you do that in the shortest, simplest way, you are applying the KISS principles. If I ask you where you are, you can tell me you are on planet earth, Singapore or at home. They are all right answers. No point telling me that the planet is 70% covered with water and all that as they are irrelevant to my purpose of enquiry.
After hitting a golf shot, we will sometimes indulged in self-talk, I should have hit more to the left, right, shorter, longer, etc. No use blaming yourself. The damage has been done. Use the KISS routine to examine. Use the simplest form to achieve the best outcome and the best outcome was to land on a safe place for your next shot with a well executed shot and not to attempt a shot that you may succeed once in a 100 times, worse - never before. Next time, before you do that, go and KISS a baby's bottom and you will find out that baby bottoms are smoother than our face. Aiyah, had you knew that, you would have gotten a plastic surgeon to do a skin graft on your face. Let's keep it simple!
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