Overcomplicating the brew cycle

There are all different kinds of coffee makers. There’s the simple pour and brew kind, then there’s the super complicated pod pressing, french pressing, takes scientific scale to measure optimal ground use kind. One is a simplified process. One concentrates on more involved process. As humans, we sometimes tend to overcomplicate even the simplest things. It comes down to choosing whether or not to make a process complicated.

Complicated Process Does Not Ensure Quality
Some people fall into the trap of over complicating simple tasks. For instance, everything in my closet in neatly hung and placed. Nothing is scattered, thrown, or disorganized. Oppositely, I keep all of my gym clothes tossed in a basket. Why? I see no sense in overcomplicating the washing and storing of clothes I wear quite often. The turnaround time on my yoga pants does not constitute the extra time hanging and folding them. Keep it simple: wear, wash, dry, toss. Some of my clothing is more expensive, worn on special occasions, and have a specific use. Due to their specific nature, I take more time in their washing and storage process.

As business processes, life, relationships, economy, etc. evolve, new and old processes change. Take a look at Twitter. In the beginning, it was a very simple process. Type 140 characters and that’s it. One button follow. One button send. Overtime, users have developed hundreds of apps which complicated the entire process. Some of which are incredible useful in order to sort through enormous amounts of data, users, etc. We’ve focused on how to manipulate a very simple communication tool to establish very complicated tasks and applications.

The more we overcomplicate our lives, whether it’s sending an invoice through three personnel before it hits the mailbox or brewing a cup of coffee, we waste precious time enjoying the results. To caveat, some individuals enjoy complicated processes. They thrive off controlling and understanding the inner-workings of every step.

I would venture to say, most of us want to live more simplistic. To wake up in the morning, enjoy a cup of coffee, and move on. We’ve been told the masses of technology is suppose to make our lives more simplistic. Smart phones give us autonomy from a laptop, Google replaces the Yellow Pages, riding lawn mowers versus push, endless edgers, hedgers, and automated poop scoops. The list goes on. We’ve technology laden every aspect of our lives. But does technology really simplify?

Instead of making our lives more simple, technology is overcomplicating everything. There’s no more Sunday strolls or quite neighborhoods. We check our email on vacations, take client phone calls on Saturday morning, not only mow but hedge, whack, and wash our lawn…all to end up running on the treadmill because we rode our lawnmower instead of pushing it. Google is the new yellow pages, which means every business is using numbers resources to get that SEO/SEM to the top page. It’s not simple, it’s complicated.

Eventually some of us will throw all the technology to the wind. Head out to Walden Pond with no networks, laptops, or hedgers. We will go back to using the library instead of Amazon. We will take long strolls for our health instead of the gym contorting machines. We will enjoy a cup of coffee with our friends at a local shop instead of Twittering in our pajamas. We will rise with the sun, bed to dusk, and live a very simple life. Focusing on the only thing technology has not overcomplicated the process.