[tsaksa]

Blaise Pascal once wrote in a letter, "The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter." Over the years, similar quotes have been attributed to several others including Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, etc. But the basic concept is the same. Simplicity is not easy and takes more time than many give it credit. Sometimes simplicity is a lucky coincidence. But most of the time it is born of much hard work and endless revision. When you see it, take time to consider the many failures and experiments that ultimately led to a successful design.

In my own experience I find that if you aspire to simplicity of design then you should seek the broadest skill set possible. Often when a really good mechanical or electrical engineer approaches a problem they only see the solution from the perspective of their own discipline. This is great for a well partitioned problem. But often a better understanding of a variety of disciplines is needed to find a truly efficient solution.