This is a nicely succinct expression of what I intuit to be almost a universal rule of creating/designing/making.

It’s related to what I think of as “coherency” and I’m often surprised at how long it can take.

The most recent example is that I was writing up some technical feedback for a reviewer of a product I develop.

My first draft was several pages worth of dense prose. I realized I needed to simplify, otherwise it would overwhelm the reader. I worked on it for several hours, and in the end I had it down to about 4-5 paragraphs.

So it took me five hours to write what looks like a simple, straightforward email!

I’m a music producer by trade, and the principal is very much at work. To create a successful recording requires getting into the small details of the sounds, and working with them, whether your tools are complex or simple.