When Simple Gets Hard

The simplest instructions often conceal the hardest realities. Just ask anyone who's built something meaningful.

In my years as an engineer, I’ve come to appreciate a truth that’s often overlooked: not everything is as trivial as it seems on the surface. One distinction that stands out is the difference between "simple" and "easy." It’s one thing to be unaware of this nuance. It’s quite another to recognize it and still push for changes, treating the two as interchangeable. That’s a risky move, and sooner or later, it’ll catch up with you.

This one feature you want to add to your product? Yeah, that might be a simple feature but that doesn't make it easy. The distinction isn’t just semantics; it’s a practical reality that can make or break your work.

Running a marathon is simple. Put one foot in front of the other until you cross the finish line. There’s no hidden complexity in the instruction, no convoluted riddle to unravel. Yet, if you've ever laced up your shoes and hit the pavement, you know the truth.

Simple isn’t easy.

It requires effort beyond merely describing the steps involved. Simplicity often disguises the hard work that might be necessary for things to even be simple in the first place. It is a triumph of effort, not a happy accident. We rarely stumble into clarity. We forge it through discipline, mistakes, and deep respect for our craft.

So the next time you talk about a feature, a process, a data pipeline, remember the marathon analogy. Simple means clarity of understanding, direction, or function. Easy implies it’s effortless, and that’s rarely the case when you’re building something worthwhile.

Confusing simple with easy leads to underestimated efforts, missed deadlines, or half-baked results. Recognizing and respecting their difference makes us better engineers, data professionals, and leaders.