KISS principle (Keep it simple stupid)

KISS is an acronym for "Keep it simple, stupid" as a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy in 1960. A related concept in science that dates to the 13th century is Occam's razor that states that among hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.

Many have found this to be a valuable best practice in many fields from designing products or software to designing production lines and quality control.

If something is designed as simple as possible it is easier to repair, maintain and understand. If a process is designed as simple as possible it is easier to use, change or train people to use.

KISS & Software Design

• The Apache Software Foundation discusses why KISS is important in software design.

• Computer Hope, a free “technical support” computer information website states they use KISS in their website design and discuss applying KISS to website design, software programming and products

• The Effective Software Design website discusses both KISS, Occam's razor and YAGNI in software design:

1. • The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complex; therefore simplicity should be a key goal in design and unnecessarycomplexity should be avoided."

KISS & Project Management

• The AT Task Work Management Blog discusses how and why the KISS principle is applied and works in project management.

More information on KISS

• Wikipedia page on KISS
• Wikipedia page on Occam's razor

Author

The author of this best practice is Terry Gardiner

Terry Gardiner is the founder and President of Silver Lining Seafoods and NorQuest Seafoods - a medium-size Alaska seafood processing company; and currently a Board member of the Anvil Corporation, an employee-owned company specializing in oil and gas engineering.

His co-operative experiences include member director of the Commercial Fishermen Co-operative association; creation of legislation for the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank; and advisor to the US Dept of Health and Social Services for the state Health CO-OPs.

Terry served ten years as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives -several legislative committee chairmanships, Speaker of the House, Chairman of the Alaska Criminal Code Commission and board member on various state and federal boards and commissions.

His non-profit experiences include National Policy Director for the Small Business Majority in Washington DC; working with the Herndon Alliance and ForTerra.

Terry authored the leadership book, "Six-Word Lessons to Build Effective Leaders: 100 Lessons to Equip Your People to Create Winning Organizations".

For more check: Terry Gardiner Long bio