世界简单化之旅: 当简单成为解决之道

At the beginning of 'Walden,' Henry David Thoreau makes a concise case against the complexity of modern life. 'Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!' he writes. '[L]et your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. . . . Simplify, simplify.'
在《瓦尔登湖》(Walden)一书的开头，梭罗(Henry David Thoreau)用简短的篇幅抨击了现代生活的复杂性。他写道：“我们的生活在琐碎之中消耗掉了。一个老实人除十指之外，便用不着更大的数字了，在特殊情况下也顶多加上十个足趾，其余不妨笼而统之。简单，简单，简单啊！我说，最好你的事只两件或三件，不要一百件或一千件；不必计算一百万，半打不是够计算了吗，总之，账目可以记在大拇指甲上就好了……简单化，简单化！”

That was the 19th century, though, and we live in the 21st. In a typical day, we encounter dozens -- if not dozens upon dozens -- of moments when we are delayed, frustrated or confused by complexity. Our lives are filled with gadgets we can't use (automatic sprinklers, GPS devices, fancy blenders), instructions we can't follow (labels on medicine bottles, directions for assembling toys or furniture) and forms we can't decipher (tax returns, gym membership contracts, wireless phone bills).
然而梭罗所指的还是19世纪，我们现在生活在21世纪。在最平常的一天，都会有数十个甚至更多时刻，生活的复杂性不仅耽误了我们的时间，还会让我们感到失望或困惑。我们的生活中充满了我们不需要的小东西（自动洒水器、全球卫星定位系统设备、花哨的搅拌器）、我们看不懂的说明书（药瓶上的标签，组装玩具或家具的说明书），以及我们无法破译的表格（纳税申报表、健身房会员合同、手机话费单）。

Every facet of our lives, even entertainment and recreation, is complicated by an ever-widening array of choices delivered at a frantic pace. Consider:
我们生活的各个方面，甚至连娱乐和休闲都因为日益拓宽的选择而复杂化。看看这些数字吧：

-- More than 800,000 apps in the Apple App Store
苹果的App Store里有超过80万个应用程序

-- 240-plus selections on the Cheesecake Factory menu, not including lunch or brunch specials
除了为午餐或早午餐临时推出的特色菜之外，Cheesecake Factory的菜单上还有逾240种菜品

-- 135 mascaras, 437 lotions and 1,992 fragrances at Sephora.com
丝芙兰的网站(Sephora.com)上有135种睫毛膏，437种乳液以及1,992款香水

In 1980, the typical credit card contract was about 400 words long. Today, many are 20,000 words. 'Fine print' complexity costs us money in the form of hidden fees (about $900 per year for the average consumer, according to research conducted by the Ponemon Institute), denied claims and unanticipated charges ($2 billion in one year for landline phone customers, according to the Federal Communications Commission).
1980年，信用卡合同的长度一般为400词左右。如今，许多合同长达2万词。附属细则中的隐形费用、拒绝索赔条款和意料之外的收费让我们支付了更多的钱。根据波耐蒙研究所(Ponemon Institute)的研究，普通消费者每年支付的隐形费用大约为900美元（约合5,580元人民币）。根据美国联邦通讯委员会(Federal Communications Commission)提供的数据，针对座机电话的用户，其每年的意料之外的收费总计可达20亿美元（约合124亿人民币）。

Who has 90 minutes to read 20,000 words or the time to select a Medicare Part D prescription plan (a Web search on medicare.gov will return 45 plans for you to consider)? Ponder the fact that a dermatologist must sign his name to forms almost 30,000 times a year, according to a 2008 article in the Southern Medical Journal. We are on autopilot -- blindly signing, agreeing, working and spending.
谁肯花90分钟时间阅读2万个词，或者，谁会有时间去选择一个联邦医疗保险处方药计划(Medicare Part D)（在medicare.gov上搜索会得到45个方案）呢？想想吧，根据《南部医学杂志》(Southern Medical Journal)显示，一名皮肤科医生一年需要在将近3万个表格上签字。我们现在好像坐上了自动驾驶仪，每天盲目地签字、批准、工作和花钱。

How did we get into this mess? Lawyers and technologists are the taproots of complexity. Government regulators make things worse with misguided attempts to require 'disclosure.' Predatory companies with business practices that are onerous for consumers are only too happy to hide behind the cloak of complexity. And virtually all companies and organizations are averse to change and naturally inclined to take the path of least resistance. For them, it is far easier to keep tacking on amendments and exclusions than to take a blank-slate approach that would make things clearer to customers.
我们是怎么惹上这些麻烦的呢？律师和技术人员是复杂生活产生的根源。此外，政府监管机构要求“公开信息”的误导性措施让事情变得更糟。一些公司的商业操作对消费者来说过于繁重，它们非常愿意躲在复杂的外衣掩盖下。事实上，所有公司和机构都不愿意做出改变，它们自然地倾向于最小程度地抵制政府对信息公开的要求。对于他们来说，与其采用让客户更清楚的方式，不如继续使用拐弯抹角的附录和免责条款，因为后者要容易得多。

Do you know anyone who stops to read 'click-through' agreements on websites in the middle of performing a task? One company, PC Pitstop, deliberately buried a clause in its end-user license agreement in 2004, offering $1,000 to the first person who emailed the company at a certain address. It took five months and 3,000 sales until someone claimed the money. The situation hadn't improved by 2010 when Gamestation played an April Fools' Day joke by embedding a clause in their agreement saying that users were selling them their souls.
你认识在网站上注册时读完网站协议再点击“继续”的人吗？2004年，PC Pitstop公司故意在终端用户许可协议中加了一条，称将奖励给第一个按要求向某地址发送邮件的人1,000美元。过了五个月，在公司卖出了3,000台电脑之后，终于有人获得了这1,000美元。2010年的情况也是如此，那年的愚人节，Gamestation公司开玩笑地在协议中加入一句话，说用户正在出卖自己的灵魂。

Complexity is the coward's way out. But there is nothing simple about simplicity, and achieving it requires following three major principles: empathizing (by perceiving others' needs and expectations), distilling (by reducing to its essence the substance of one's offer) and clarifying (by making the offering easier to understand or use).
使事情复杂化是懦夫解决问题的办法。不过要做到简单绝非易事。实现简单需要遵循三大原则：为对方着想（这需要你理解他人的需要和预期），化繁为简（去粗存精，只保留产品或服务的实质），以及清晰的表达（让你的服务更容易理解或使用）。

Why is it so rare for a product or service to be launched with simplicity baked in? The missing ingredient is empathy. Companies tackle simplification as a science rather than as an art. They measure the length of customer service calls down to hundredths of a second, run readability formulas counting syllables and monitor mouse-clicks by the millions. Afraid to let common sense prevail, companies rely on numbers to judge clarity and usefulness -- two attributes that defy quantification. As a result, they send out documents that they tout as being written at a sixth-grade reading level when in fact no college-educated person understands them.
为什么很少出现具有简单之美的产品或服务呢？就是因为人们不会设身处地为对方着想。企业把简化的过程看做是一门科学，而不是艺术。他们以百分之一秒为单位计算客服电话的长度，使用可读性公式来计算音节的多少，以百万为单位监控点击鼠标的次数；但企业却不愿以常识为原则，而是依赖数字来判断清晰度和实用性，而这两个特点是不能被量化的。因此，尽管他们称自己的文件是针对六年级阅读水平写成的，而事实上拥有大学文凭的人都无法理解他们的意思。

Empathy is the only way to truly shorten the distance between an organization providing services and the individual receiving them. Cleveland Clinic (a client, in the mid-90s, of the brand-strategy firm where we work) understands that empathizing with patients is critical, so it doesn't just focus on simplifying medical care but looks at everything the patient experiences: smells, sounds, greetings, hospital gowns, security and appointment scheduling. It wasn't until staff members were wheeled through hallways lying in hospital beds that they realized how disconcerting and dizzying that experience can be. Preparing patients for the 'thrill' ride is a simple gesture that allays fears.
设身处地为对方着想，这是唯一的方式，能真正缩短提供服务的机构和获得服务的个人之间距离。克里夫兰医疗中心(Cleveland Clinic)（是我们工作的品牌战略公司上世纪90年代中期的一个客户）知道，站在病人的角度思考至关重要，因此该中心不仅仅专注于简化医疗保健服务，而且关注病人一切体验：气味、声音、问候、医院制服、安全保障和预约安排。员工们只有亲自躺在病床上被用轮椅推到走廊时，他们才会意识到这个过程是多么令人窘迫和头晕。让病患为这场“惊悚”做好准备，是一个简单但却能够缓解恐惧的措施。

The clinic's guiding principle -- patients first -- is used as a mantra by chief executive Toby Cosgrove, who weaves patient experience stories into all of his presentations. Everyone at the hospital, regardless of his or her job, is called a 'caregiver.' Through this simple change in vocabulary, Cleveland Clinic is able to send an important signal to everyone in the organization about what's expected.
这家医疗中心“病人至上”的指导原则，被首席执行长托比•科斯格罗夫(Toby Cosgrove)奉为真言，他把有关病人经历的故事融入自己所有的演讲中。医院的每个人，无论具体职能，都被称作“关爱给与者”。通过用词的简单变化，克里夫兰医疗中心向机构所有员工发送了一个重要信号，告诉他们病患对他们的期待是什么。

What makes the biggest impression on people during their stay in a hospital? As Cleveland Clinic learned, it's the small details: how long it takes a nurse to answer the call bell, the availability of food on request, whether staff members follow the '10-4' rule ('when 10 feet away from a patient, smile and make eye contact; when 4 feet away, address the patient').
人们待在医院时，哪些事情留给他们最深的印象？克里夫兰医疗中心认为是一些细节：护士多长时间会回应呼叫铃；食物是否能随叫随到；员工是否遵守了10-4规定（在距离病人10英尺远的时候微笑和眼神交流，距4英尺远的时候开始回应病人的诉求）。

Borrowing from the hospitality industry, Cleveland Clinic has even paid attention to the scent in the air. No antiseptic aroma; the air smells like a signature fragrance favored by four-star hotel chains. Everything from the way doctors talk to patients (in plain English, and with a willingness to answer questions until there are none left), to the hospital gowns (designed by Diane von Furstenberg to combine ease of access with a touch of dignity), to the clear, concise bills you receive after checking out reflects a commitment to simplifying the interaction between a human being and a large, complex medical establishment. The hospital has achieved simplicity through the elimination of 'hassles' and the addition of clearer, more human communication.
克里夫兰医疗中心甚至向酒店业学习，关注空气中的气味。这里没有消毒剂的味道，空气闻起来就像四星级连锁酒店里常有的香味。从医生对病人的讲话（愿意用简单易懂的英语回答病人的所有问题，直到病人满意为止）到医院的着装（由黛安•冯芙丝汀宝(Diane von Furstenberg)设计，结合了亲和力和高贵之感），以及出院时清晰简洁的单据，这些都反映出，克里夫兰医疗中心致力于简化人类和大型复杂医疗机构之间的互动。通过减少麻烦和增加更清晰更人性化的交流，这家医院实现了简单化。