Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential. How many of us really understand the real meaning behind this Agile principle? There are many interpretations but the one which I like the most, is focused on Product Owners.
I believe, POs have to play a role of an artist, a sculptor in fact. They need to visualize how the sculpture would look eventually and hence keep refining it. In our Product Refinement meetings, we often focus on 'adding' the details to the requirements, but miss out on 'refining' them first. 'Refine' as a word means to remove impurities or unwanted elements. I agree that by adding details we surely remove the ambiguity around the requirements, but we also need to ensure that the requirement isn't an 'unwanted element' for now.
Therefore refining is an art where the PO needs to clearly separate the 'Must-Haves' from the 'Good-to-Haves', which we commonly refer to as the MoSCoW technique. These need to be put into two different buckets of what needs to be 'done' and what needs 'not done', right now.
As a sculptor makes a wooden piece or a stone look beautiful by carefully carving out all the unnecessary details, a PO must learn the art of removing those unnecessary requirements which are not needed to build the minimal lovable product. Those requirements should be pushed into the 'not done' bucket, and hence knowing the art of maximizing the amount of work 'not done', becomes essential.
Honestly we can use this principle anywhere, especially during these COVID times, we can apply this to our eating habits. Lets try separating the stuff we eat into 'Must-Haves' and 'Good-to-Haves' and keep putting all the 'Good-to-Haves' into a 'not done' bucket.
I am sure this will not only help you develop a healthy eating habit, but also in reserving a stock which may not be 'essential' right now. Think about it and let me know your views.
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