Agile Management – Understanding a Point in Agile Manifesto Principles

agilemanagement

I was reading Agile Manifesto Principles. Everything seems clear and reasonable except for one point:

Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is
essential.

I dont understand this. Does this mean that the work that wasn't done should be somehow exaggerated? If so, it doesn't really make sence.

Best Answer

Remove the parenthetical comment. What remains is "Simplicity is essential", which by the way is an application of the principle to its expression itself.

Simplicity is essential, because you have distilled what you really need, removing what is making the task at hand heavier, less elegant: complex.

I have always interpreted in the sense of Pascal's take on brevity: "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." You have to avoid what is unneded (from the letter, from the code) and this is an active task, and not an easy one. It is not something which happens by itself.