KISS 原则

The KISS principle？

In one of my newspaper design courses in college, our professor would write “KISS” on our papers if our layouts were cluttered — not enough space around an image, more than two typefaces — or overly complicated. KISS is an acronym that he used meaning, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Since that course, I’ve learned of a few other definitions for the final S in KISS, but they all express a similar sentiment.

在我大学时的一堂报纸设计课上，如果我们交的作业很凌乱--比如图片周围没留出来足够的空白，使用了两种以上的字体，或者太过复杂花哨，我们的教授就在论文上用笔写上了“KISS”这几个字。KISS实际上是他使用的一句话的首字母缩写，这句话就是，“笨蛋，要简化。”自从上过那门课之后，我体会到KISS中的最后一个字母S有着一些其他的含义，尽管它们都表达着差不多的情绪色彩。

The KISS principle has helped me a great deal with my productivity over the years. Whenever I lose sight of the fundamental elements of a project, I remind myself to keep it simple. I don’t allow myself to add anything beyond the most basic elements of the project until I’m 100 percent finished with that simple, first deliverable. Then, if I have time remaining, I can go back and add features that aren’t essential (if I even decide to do them at all).

后来，KISS原则在我的工作中帮了我很多忙。无论什么时候，当我在一个项目中不知怎样来弄好一些基本的重要元素时，我就会提醒自己要简化。除了那些最基本的要素之外，直到我自己百分之百完成那些简单，首要该完成的要素时，我才允许自己加入一些其他东西。如果还剩下时间的话，我就会重新审视，然后加入一些不太必要但是很有特色的东西。（我真的甚至决定这么做）

Surprisingly, I’ve found the KISS principle to be more difficult to embrace as a manager of others’ work. I’ll see part of a deliverable and then want the person to go back and have the first part enhanced before seeing the rest of the completed work. If I don’t fight this urge, I end up wasting other people’s time, and can drain my budget before the project is finished. To get around this, I tell the people I’m working with that they are supposed to remind me of the KISS principle. I greatly respect the vendors and employees who have said to me, “Erin, I’m supposed to remind you to keep things simple and let me finish the basic project first.”

吃惊的是，我发现处理经理职位的其他工作时，KISS原则更难以接受。我看到部分稿件，然后我把它给回负责人手里，然后在我看到成稿之前，我希望能提高第一部分的品质，如果我不是特别极力反对的话，我不会浪费其他人的时间，在项目结束前我会花费掉我的预算。为了避开这一点，我告诉和我一起工作的人，他们应该提醒我KISS原则。我很尊重能够告诉我的这些雇员们，他们会说，“Erin，我希望你知道应该简化这些事情，让我先完成一些基本项目。”（这一段不太明白，希望指点）

Beyond working on projects, I’ve found the KISS principle to be extremely beneficial in other areas of life. If I’m doing programming work, I tend to have fewer bugs in my code if I keep things as simple as possible. If I’m trying to clean something in my home, I always start with the least caustic cleaner first. When choosing between two items of clothing in a store, I always choose the one that is the easiest fabric to maintain.

除了项目工作之外，我发现KISS原则在生活中的其他领域都让我们会受益匪浅。如果我写程序的话，我倾向于这样做，如果我能尽可能把事情处理得简单的话，我希望在程序中尽可能的少出现漏洞，如果我在家打扫的话，我一直都会选择腐蚀性最小的清洁剂。当在商店里选择两件衣服时，我一直会选择面料最易保养的的那件。

What can you do in your work or home life to implement the KISS principle? Are you losing sight of the fundamentals and adding flourishes before finishing the basics? How do you keep things simple?

你如何在你的工作或家庭生活中运用KISS原则呢？在完成基本工作前，你会忘记最基本最重要的环节么？还是会加些不需要的花哨的东西？你如何使事物简单化呢？