Simple

I am all about simplification. Over the many years I have been in Information Technology leadership I have preached the need for simple solutions. The most sophisticated solution need not apply. I am interested in mastering the requirements necessary with the simplest solution possible. Albert Einstein said it best,

"Everything should be kept as simple as possible, but no simpler."

The additional complexity that is unnecessary only adds burden. Perhaps it makes problems more difficult to troubleshoot and elongates mean time to repair. Or perhaps it demands additional life cycle management planning that could otherwise be unnecessary. Or maybe due to tightly coupled integration, invasive technical procedures require herculean efforts for stakeholder approvals.

It is my opinion some of the more innovative web applications recently are, at their core, simple. Facebook with it's simple interface. Twitter with its 140 character messaging. I think you can even make a case for Google's search engine success with its straight forward interface and business model.

So why is it that as inventors we gravitate towards complexity?

I can't explain it, although I am sure someone out there has a theory. Perhaps it is because we attach negative associations with simplicity. We use simple as synonymous with dim witted. We refer to simplifying messages so that the uneducated can understand it. But even with my own propensity to preach this principle, I myself tend to fall into the trap of designing solutions with too much complexity. I require of myself to reduce my solutions down after I am done to identify the meaningful elements for implementation.

Simplicity ensures and requires broader understanding. It requires greater discipline to provide solutions that are elegantly simplified. In simplification, there is greater freedom.

"If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Einstein

The Runner

My wife is a runner. I am a walker.

This morning is another morning that I am reminded that my wife is the runner in the family. She has never before been an athlete and only running for about a year now. Earlier in 2011, she took 4th place in her age group in a 5k running race after only about 6 months experience. She has now ran through the winter, spring and summer, and is coming full circle now back into the fall. In Colorado, she has been averaging near 10 minute miles at our higher elevation. On her trip to California this summer, she continued her running, and averaged nearer to 8 minute miles. And by the way, I am super proud of my wife.

I on the other hand have been an athlete pretty much all of my life. I have won many wrestling championships at both state and national level, having started when I was 5 years old. Running was a necessary consequence of making weight and having the cardio needed to last 3 rounds with tough competition. A few years ago, I was starting to enjoy running in a different way. It was becoming a variety in which I could work out differently. I had been riding a road bike and lifting weights, and working my P90x routine. Running gave me an opportunity to balance those with something I could do in 30 - 45 minutes, get outdoors and get a good work out in.

Then came the injury.

I hurt my ankle running. And now every time I start running it swells up and becomes painful with any weight bearing activity like running. I have had an MRI, x-rays, and ultrasounds. I have seen 3 specialists, and sports doctors. I have spent more money in medical co-payments than I care to recall. No one has been able to figure out what it is. And each of them have suggested I stop running and do other activities. I remember telling the last specialist I could have come in with a sealed envelope that he could have opened saying he wouldn't know what my injury was. I was right, he got mad. But I dutifully wrote him a check anyway and left the office bitter.

So I walk.

While I walk, I wish I could run. But I can't. I occasionally try and test it out and end up having to limp back home, literally. Instead, I must swallow my pride and do what exercise I am able. My most recent walks I go at a fast pace and try not to let those slow joggers pass me. Not long ago I took my walking to the mountains and walked a few miles up a mountain in the Rocky Mountain National Park past Alberta Falls and up to Mills Lake. I picked up some snowshoes and trekking poles this summer to carry my walking into the winter this year. If I am going to walk, I am going to make it as interesting as I can.

I haven't given up yet on getting my ankle repaired enough so I can enjoy running once again. But in the meantime, I do not prefer to think of myself as a walker. I prefer to call myself a hiker, it just sounds better.

Be Still

This past summer, I had the opportunity to go camping with my son for a few days in the Rocky Mountain National Park. One of the mornings I woke up very early, started a fire and sat down in my camp chair and quietly listened.

There were squirrels chasing each other back and forth up the hill. Birds filled nearby trees and greeted the morning with song. As the fire crackled, I surveyed landscape and the beauty of the surrounding trees and mountains. A mule deer took a wide berth of my campsite with two fawns in tow. It truly did look like a painting as the sun slowly crept over the eastern mountainside and graced the meadow just below my campsite with a warm brightness. The memory is etched in my mind.

During the hour or so that I sat there, I fought to be still. I didn't want to miss a detail. I just sat there and took it all in. I tried not to even think or else my mind would race back to the cares of the world. I tried to remain present. I don't get to the mountains as often as I would like, so this morning I didn't want to spoil it by stirring around or thinking about what awaits me in the valley below when I return. I was still.

Later, after the sun was well established, my son emerged from the tent to join me. As we fired up the camping stove to start coffee, I reflected on how much I enjoyed that hour and how little time I spend being still as I had just been. The clutter of noises of everyday life drown out the things that might otherwise be noticed in times of stillness. But perhaps being still is exactly what I need to do more often. Just like the need for sleep and food and water are required to be healthy, perhaps I need to also be still. I am thankful for that morning and the reminder that not all moments need to be driven at top speed. But that sometimes to make the most progress on a journey one may only require absolute stillness.

Throw your Best Punch

"All the time he's boxing, he's thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him." - Jack Dempsey.

This is one of my favorite quotes. I consider myself a man of action. I just like getting things done that need to get done. I do believe in planning, but not at the time when fists are flying. That is when you need to step in and throw your best punch. I appreciate this common sense quote by Jack Dempsey and frequently remind myself of it.

With a little Google searching, I found Jack Dempsey was born in Manassa, Colorado on June 24, 1895. Dempsey rose to sports fame in the 1920s. As a nomadic traveler from 1911 to 1916, Dempsey began boxing in the small mining towns of Colorado under the name Kid Blackie. My brief search revealed he emerged from numerous saloon floor-boxing matches to professional heavyweight boxing champion in 1919 with his knockout victory over Jess Willard. Dempsey was perhaps best known for his heavy hitting and thrilling knockout victories. He had an aggressive and powerful style that had a lasting impact on the sport of boxing.

But prior to his boxing career, Jack Dempsey held jobs of digging ditches, picking peaches, cutting timber and being a circus roustabout while traveling from town to town. Nothing special. Except that the context of his humble beginnings is what makes the quote itself special to me. No one gave Jack Dempsey the boxing heavyweight title. He had to beat a 6' 6 1/2 inch tall 235 lb monster by the name of Jess Willard. Jack Dempsey boxed at 187 lbs. Rumors have abounded for years about Dempsey cheating as Willard was widely reported to have suffered a broken jaw, broken ribs, several broken teeth and a number of deep fractures to his facial bones. Whether he had or hadn't I cannot debate. But I can emphatically say that Jack Dempsey climbed in the ring and stood toe to toe with a giant of a man in true David and Goliath fashion, and won in 3 rounds.

If Jack Dempsey had never entered a professional ring and seized the moment, he would have not been remembered at all. If he had not stood in the face of adversity and overcome it, he might never have been known. If he had settled for saloon floor-boxing matches and picking peaches, I would not have his quote to inspire me to take action. Throw your best punch.