"Simplicity is Complexity" may sound like a paradox. But if you've worked in tech long enough, you already know it's true.

Good simplicity, the kind that truly helps users, other developers, and your future self, is never accidental. It’s not about being lazy or doing less. It's about doing just enough of the right thing, and nothing more.

Simplicity is not:

A 400-line Bash script that "just works" until it doesn’t.
A mega-framework that claims to abstract everything.
A diagram with six microservices for a single CRUD app.

These aren’t simple. They're shortcuts disguised as solutions.

Real simplicity is harder

Real simplicity takes effort:

It means saying no to features that don’t serve the core use case.
It means untangling complexity, not hiding it behind clever abstractions.
It means writing clear, boring instructions and scopes so others can follow without reading your mind.

That kind of simplicity takes longer. And that’s why teams avoid it.

Complexity creeps in by default

Left unchecked, systems evolve into a mess of:

Config sprawl
Tech stacks chosen by resume-driven development
Half-done "platforms" that no one understands

People often blame deadlines, tech debt, or lack of resources. But more often? It's a lack of clarity about the actual problem being solved.

Simplifying means making decisions

Simplicity isn't minimalism for its own sake. It's focused utility.

To get there, you have to:

Define your problem precisely
Understand your constraints
Make tradeoffs deliberately

That’s hard. That’s real work. But it pays off every time someone picks up your product and doesn’t curse your name.

In practice

You’ll see this theme again and again on this blog:

Less abstraction. More intent.
Less “scalable” architecture. More "works reliably". (Scale later)
Less tech theater. More tools that actually serve their purpose.

Because simple isn’t easy.
Simplicity is complexity — done well.

Why Simplicity Is Complexity