Simplicity

More, Better, Faster. Business is rushing headlong into battle with new ideas blazing, information pumping, scanning the horizon for the next Big Thing that promises to get everyone working smarter.

Whoa. Hold on. Enough is enough. All companies — and the people inside them — are already inundated with too much information, too many tasks, too many decisions with too little time to get it all done. Even in top performing and most admired organizations, work is becoming way too complex. (And, oh yeah, if we're trying to lead people through it all, this ain't no picnic!)

If we're going to compete, lead and work smarter, we'll need easy-to-use ideas and tools that help us cut through the clutter, that allow us to focus on what's important and not waste our time on the rest. We need the power of simplicity.

Bill Jensen delivers that power. He offers a fresh, compelling, and plainly practical approach to competing in a complex world filled with infinite choices. Using a powerful combination of stories, hands-on exercises, and models that have worked in all types of organizations, Jensen guides us though what business need to do to get simple.

Simplicity is about working smarter, not harder — doing less of what doesn't matter and more of what does. It offers this triple-play:

• You will know the one thing that is needed to create simpler workdays. And you'll have the tools to get there
• You will know the one thing that is needed to create a simpler company. And you'll understand why this shift will completely change how people get stuff done.
• You will ask very different questions and will expect very different things from your teammates, your employees, and yourself.

Those questions and expectations will change, because in a more-better-faster world filled with infinite choices simplicity is the new competitive advantage. Only simpler companies will be able to cut through enough of the clutter, churn, and complexity to compete effectively.

• Prologue: The Simplicity Manifesto
• Section 1 The Aha
  1. Simplicity: What it is and why it works
  2. Simplicity’s Evil Twin: How work got so complex
  3. So What? Does it hurt enough to do something about it?
• Section 2 Simpler WorkDays
  4. Using Time: Getting ready to use people’s time and attention
  5. Planning: The starter kit for simpler work
  6. Contracting: Behavioral communication
  7. Listening and Scanning: Hit delete, find the good stuff
  8. Engaging: Bringing it all together for the right kind of order
• Section 3 Simpler Companies
  9. Simpler to Know: A strategy for working backwards
  10. Feels Simpler: Build trust with what you build
  11. Simpler to Use: Designing content for decision making
  12. Simpler to Do: Using project design to make informed choices
  13. Simpler to Succeed: Designing work for easy navigation
• Section 4 Simpler FutureWork
  14. Lead through Navigation: Changing how we structure companies
• Epilogue: The Power to Do What’s Important

Brilliant and well worth the time.