The Less that is More

I had a job interview this morning for a project manager position at a local IT consulting firm. During our conversation I heard myself become overly animated when talking about my Less is More philosophy and how I apply it to managing projects- meetings, presentations, project documents. I babbled so much that the interviewer probably thought I was the poster child for More is Less! 

I think the interviewer got it, and maybe even appreciated my enthusiasm, but he also asked how my approach to creating project plans fits with my "KISS" philosophy (his term, not mine). My project plans start at the highest level of project components and work their way down to the gory details, as much as is needed to capture a clear task, even one that has multiple simple parts.

The goal of Less is More is to provide the minimal amount of information to help people understand the message and act on it appropriately. In other words, Less can still be A Lot in some cases.

The Less that is More is relative to the typical quantity of information that people provide, which obfuscates more than it clarifies.