Simplicity is difficult because most of us are overcompensating for uncertainty. Adding something is easy. But removing something is hard, because it requires conviction. It’s easier to hedge against uncertainty, entertain multiple paths, and dilute your focus than to develop a strong opinion about what to exclude.

These examples highlight why perceiving layers of context are a prerequisite to effectively navigating deeply ambiguous problems: they almost always happen across cross-functional boundaries, and never happen in the seams where your organization has built experience solving the particular problem. They are atypical exceptions, that involve a lot of... See more