Source: Mr G M Mangion¸ PKF Malta 

As published on Wednesday 14th of August on Media Today.

On the contrary¸ it is usually associated with intelligent systems that may be misconstrued as stupid because of their simplistic design. The KISS principle in computer design hinders and/or prevents creeping featurism¸ system failover and other IT issues. Here it may well be appropriate to  remember Albert Einstein famous quote : “Everything should be made as simple as possible¸ but not simpler.”At the national conference PKF will invite experts to give case studies which highlights that one should simplify the design of a product and most of the time success is achieved when a design is at its maximum simplicity. At a time when in Europe many countries are facing a sluggish economy there are pressures in the manufacturing sector to multi-task and try to lower production costs by aiming for a higher level in the competitiveness index. This does not always work. Malta last reached the 47 th place among the rest and at times of recession it is wise to devise ways how to simplify functions and especially trim the heavy bureaucracy at certain customer oriented government departments.

But simplicity is not trying to do many things at a go or try to work by trial and error to produce same  amount twice as fast since as stated earlier if one can focus on one thing then if you work on three at a time. The common parlance in this respect is that’ less is more’. In design concepts it is well understood that it is imperative not to overcomplicate your product with more buttons¸ switches¸ or other options but instead try to design the final template in the simplest way. Again it is the hallmark of successful designers ( remember Steve Jobs in design of Ipad ) that follow the creed that your product should be usable by all types of people¸ especially the people you hope will use the product. In the quest to cut red tape and improve production flow any company that designs products or furnishes services may find simplicity an advantage for the company as well¸ since it tends to shorten time and reduce cost. Even where the company is trying to use the principle as a consultant paid on behalf of users¸ however¸ design time may take longer and cost more¸ but the net effect will be beneficial since easy-to-learn-and-use products and services tend to be cheaper to produce and service in the long run. Back to the concept of Simplification it far outweighs the creation of complex marketing messages that can be misunderstood or overly sold to attract new business. Speaking of consultancies it was a business-management consultant Joseph M. Juran  who suggested the equally popular Pareto principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto¸ who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

Equally important Pareto principle is a common rule of thumb that in most  business you will find that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. This principle is a landmark for systems designers and together with the KISS concept there are many attem