Reflections 9th April

The Seductive Nature of Complicated for those in power.

Photo by Dan Lohmar on Unsplash

I read this week an article that described consultants as a virus. Skilled at making things that are simple seem complicated in order to get paid to make them simple again. But of course, just as the toothpaste won’t go back into the tube, so there is always something complicated left. Which means we need more consultants. Consultants are the organizational equivalent of perpetual motion.

There is something very seductive about complicated in business. Simple tends not to generate repeat purchases because it’s, well, simple. I used to be able to service my own car, mend the dishwasher, and many other mundane tasks, but now I can’t - they have become complicated beyond belief, requiring computer analysis and yet - they don’t do much more of anything useful. The roads are slower; speed limits are more rigidly and automatically enforced, and those pictures of elegant cars accelerating round sweeping bends in open countryside are fantasy. My laundry is no not…