Subtraction over addition when making changes

Where we consider the value of removing thing rather than adding things.

A while back I stumbled over this article. It’s a really interesting way to think and work. Joost Minnaar states that when we look at making changes in what we do or how we do it we are very prone to come up with things to add but not very good at figuring out what we should remove.

Thinking on this and mapping it into a pretty common reflection workshop practice: Stop, Keep, Start. I.E. the bit at the end where we find solutions to identified things. As Joost says it’s far more common that we end up with more new things. And less stuff we should stop.

What would happen if we from time to time, perhaps every time until some date in the future, decides that we will not add anything. Only remove things.

In XP one of the values is simplicity. This is quickly compromised if we don’t remove things and only add stuff. Again, a way to break such behaviour can be to force our self to only allow removals.

Joost has a couple suggestions in the article as well that goes along the same lines. And you should read it. There is a lot more meat in there about why it’s so important to remove things, to subtract more and add less.