Foolproof
Don Lehman, talking about the industrial design of what looks like the new Apple dock connector:
Again, the simpler you make something, the less prone to failure it becomes.
Keep this in mind when you’re creating and refining systems and planning projects.
Simple doesn’t mean something isn’t complex, just that it’s not complicated. Simple means the sum of the parts is easy to grasp and understand. It allows you to set a clear project goal. But simple isn’t easy. Simple isn’t an excuse for doing something big or hard.
Make your projects easy to understand by simplifying your goal and clearly knowing your intent. The actions it takes to complete can be complex—hard to execute or take a lot of time—but doing the hard work to make something simple will make your projects foolproof.