Subtractive Thinking: Sometimes the Best Way Forward is a Step Back

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by Bill Nottingham [5 Min Read]

Have you ever heard the expression “a camel is a horse designed by committee”? It’s meant to poke fun at a design process in which compromise is more important than outcome. Of course, a camel is the preferred mount for the desert, but in most places, a simple horse will be faster, more comfortable, and less ornery. 

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, since coming across the book Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz. “In our striving to improve our lives, our work, and our society, we overwhelmingly add,” writes he writes. “Subtraction is the act of getting to less, but it is not the same as doing less. In fact, getting to less often means doing, or at least thinking, more.”

“Subtract” by Leidy Klotz

Klotz, an engineer, worked with a psychologist to figure out why “more” seems to be our default setting. The experiments they designed — involving puzzles, Lego structures and other challenges — quickly confirmed the hypothesis, but also revealed a hack: participants were more likely to choose a subtractive solution when subtly prompted, or when given a few rounds to practice.

“On the other hand,” reports Scientific American in its coverage of the study, “having to simultaneously juggle another task — such as keeping track of numbers on a screen — made individuals less likely to subtract elements to solve the same problem, suggesting that it requires more effort to think up subtractive solutions than additive ones.” 

“Invent and Simplify” is one of Amazon’s leadership principles. “Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify.” Think about that. One of the most successful companies in history values simplification as much as innovation. There’s a lesson in that for every company, no matter how small.

But culture change begins with individuals. In his book, Klotz asks: “Do you spend more time acquiring information—whether through podcasts, websites, or conversation—than you spend distilling what you already know? … Do you have more stuff than you used to? Are you busier today than you were three years ago?” He doesn’t bother to ask if you’re happy about these developments. Very few people, I think, would say they are.

This is why I’m working on a “not-to-do list,” an exercise in prioritizing and delegating to improve productivity. I’m reminding myself daily this insights from hyper-productive entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss: “What you don’t do determines what you can do.” I’m betting (metaphorically) on horses, not camels.