I am amazed by your abelites to create projects. But more amazed by ability to present your principles in a very concise, understandable, and usable way. Thank you.
Great video, as always! I especially liked that you pointed out complexity ≠ complicatedness. In (mechanical) engineering there's often no super slick shortcut for a complex problem, but it helps to look at how others have solved similar problems. No need to re-invent the wheel most of the time!
My thoughts exactly. No need to re-invent the wheel , however some times it is beneficial to our project to begin from scratch. Omitting all the unnecessary components, bells and whistles. Think what a child would do, with no previous knowledge, and no preconceptions. Happy new year everyone. Thank you Andreas for the time you invest in this channel.
Most complexity is self-aggrandizement of the engineers who implemented the tech. Designing around KISS is very hard, but pays off in later days when things break and need to be fixed as soon as possible by people who didn't build it.
It is really astonishing how you always bring things to the point! I wish you and Dishka and all the other viewers a Happy New Year! And please keep the Channel also on this high level for the New Year in 2023🎆
I always try point this thing in my industry, software development. When people get hired there is always this question coming from either recruiters or other developers: "Why you consider yourself senior, when seniors are people that have X years of experience?", with what I always answer that years of experience are never an indicator for a developer's proficiency or seniority, pointing to the thing that everybody can write complex code, hire a lot of people to maintain and operate it, but only a true master can create a piece of code so simple that even someone who never wrote code could understand. I had the luck of working on a project where such a person created and if I told you the requirements and capabilities of that project that was developed only by 2 persons over it's lifetime, you wouldn't believe me.
I agree with your observation that sometimes, small teams can achieve much more than larger teams. I learned that the goal setting and the environment is as important as the people. Many companies are not able to create such environments. Concerning seniority: If I read all comments, I feel that the average commenters are experienced people. It is well possible that this topic attracts "senior people more than juniors. Maybe because they already know its relevance.
The fresh eyes effect is indeed magical. Helps when learning new stuff and improving your own produced work. I think it works by breaking temporary mental shortcurts that are actually wrong.
Yes, we had to focus on excellent channels like yours, on a platform that is made to steal your focus and tries to lead you to thousands of other suggestions. To filter out the right informations and worth to view material is the challenge. Happy new year greetings from a guy with another accent to the neighbors country with the Swiss accent 😊
Many say that attention is the most valuable good in today's world. So we have to adapt. The same was true during the boring times of my youth, BTW. It was more or less the opposite.
I’ve watched your videos for years. I always found them interesting and this videos concepts help to design my ideas better. You’re absolutely right about the LED example, I appreciate how I never felt like this channel regurgitated information. Thank you for respecting the intelligence that of your viewers. I’ll prolly need to rewatch this video to digest it. Thank you so much!
@@AndreasSpiess I was watching your ultrasonic sensors video and thought of something. Your videos are timeless. I mean that in a literal sense. Nassim Taleb mentions the lindy effect, and his philosophy to write a book that people want to read in the future was to write a book that people would read in the past. I watched a video you made, 6 years ago and it’s relevant as ever. You are also quite clever for someone who cannot calculate in inches and feet. The humor throughout your videos gives me chuckles throughout.
As a developer engineer in a group of colleagues I will recommend them to watch this video clip to keep in mind when we work on projects. I'm so tired of youtubers facing the camera in about half an hour explaining all (and more) details before they actually come to what they want to show. This video explains how wrong they are. Keep up the simple work! KISS from Sweden. 👍
Well done ,absolutely 'spot on' with this video. KISS is such an important principle in technology. I've just just retired after 40+ years in engineering (aircraft, electronics and networking)and I spent a lot of my latter years explaining to my teams about KISS. Now, in my retirement I have become a trainee IoT developer, something I am finding difficult, mainly because of old-age. Your video was a good opportunity for me to step back and assess my approach to this. However, I've never forgotten the old saying: "good programmers right good code, great programmers copy good code".
I am probably your age (I am 65). So your age is no problem for learning all this new stuff. The current time is the best because we have all these (affordable) possibilities!
I always like how you respect your viewers (especially the viewers in the first row) and letting us know the secrets of your success. It's nice that your videos are all concise and focused and to the point directly. Thank you for giving us your secret recipe. I hope to see you personally face to face.
@@AndreasSpiess Your knowledge, no, wisdom sharing is extremely appreciated. The knowledge is appreciated as well, but the wisdom is why I always return to your channel :)
Regarding your point about the length of videos and selecting the right materials, Churchill said "If you want me to speak for two minutes, it will take me three weeks of preparation. If you want me to speak for thirty minutes, it will take me a week to prepare. If you want me to speak for an hour, I am ready now." Thank you for your videos and inspiration.
Great video Andreas! I agree fully to your video, but what you didn't mention is your great experience from many years as an engineer. From this experience you also indirectly implement KISS to sell an idea to others.
I've got to add to this - "if it works don't fix it" and "I've improved it worse". Just look at a modern car, so massively overcomplicated we can no longer fix them and if a second hand one breaks down it can be scrapped just because it is impossible to do an affordable repair.
Cars is an interesting topic for KISS. If you would be right, the old Landrover would be the star of the car shows! But it is discontinued and replaced by a modern one. I think, a lot of people love the gadgets in their cars and only care about repairs when it is broken. (I drive a 17 year old Volvo)
Another aspect of KISS during the development stage is not to try and do it all at once. If your end-product has multiple desired functions, prioritise the "minimum viable" ones, get those to work reliably, and add in the other necessary functions when those are stable, checking that the new functions do not break the old ones. Too many times I have got bogged down trying to implement the whole user interface in one go, or work out how to get all the data to fill packets from the outset; sometimes you just need to leave placeholders and go back to that once the main function of the device is working. You may also discover that features you considered essential are not, or can be done in a different way or by the systems receiving the data rather than the one you are building.
I agree that breaking up things in components is very valuable. Still, a viable architecture has to exist. This is where I sometimes have problems with "agile" where people think you can start without an architecture and just add features over time.
@@AndreasSpiess Yes, one of the main things to consider from the outset is the archetecture you are aiming for, as this will influence what modules you start out with, and how you fit in new functions. Speaking as someone who was in software dev for 40 years, too much of "agile" has been used as an excuse for lack of planning, where really it should be the complete opposite, know where you are going but get there step by step.
My channel offers quite different topics. So it is natural that not all videos are for everybody. Still, I appreciate that you took the time to watch this one and write a comment.
This is one fantastic channel and I have definitely benefited from your content. Happy new year Andreas! I look forward to what you have in store for 2023.
Another great reminder of great design. You could even go further and talk about the 10 rules of good design, originally authored by Dieter Rams about 70 years ago. 🙂
@@AndreasSpiess Many think that Apple came up with these 10 rules. But they have been around much much longer than Apple. But Apple has used them and have profited greatly from them.
Happy and healthy 2023 to you, too. You should not forget one goal of your videos: they should be entertaining, at least for me this is also key, and the reason I became a Patreon. At work (pro software development company, me being responsible for about 30 software developers) we call it featuritis, when people try to add more or less useless or use-limited functionality. And we mostly think of such Featuritis to be a disease. For ChatGPT and the risks of it: I do not think AI will be able to replace real software developers. It is a difference to collect knowledge from zillions of online available blink sketches versus coming up with a true solution from scratch inside a real world software project. And in my opinion the real risk is that guys trust the provided software snippets too much, do not gain any understanding of what is inside this suggested code snippet, and cannot reproduce anything of it without external help. Sometimes I see developers copying code snippets they found via google, into their professional software solution. I always ask, if they understood what is happening there, and if they answer with "no, but it works", I force them to gain some understanding before using those snippets. This is what separates a human software developer from a chat-bot. But of course, this is just my point of view.
As an engineer, I am a little reluctant to mention "entertaining". But of course, I know what you mean... Concerning ChatGPT: I separated the "analytical" part from the coding part with a reason. If ChatGPT becomes a better compiler which can be programmed at a higher level, I hope it can remove a lot of boring coding time which can be spent for creating better solutions. Concerning understanding the lower layers, I shared my thinking. But I always trust testing more than coding. "A system not tested is not working" is my credo
as a software developer for SAP ERP i am always between a extremly complex system that can be simplified for users (if the consultant/devoloper can AND wants that). you got the point in your video and provided a lot topics to improve my work further! thanks a lot for your (as always on the spot) input! greetings from tyrol!
@@MrPerrey SAP needs to be complex because it has to fit many industry and country specifications. However, many customers add complicatedness because of various reasons. My point of view: Every company gets exactly the SAP implementation it deserves. I saw some very complicated companies. No wonder they got a complicated SAP system ;-)
@@MrPerrey i fully agree with you - SAP seems may to complicated - but when when you have to integrate a worldwide company with 90 companies in different countries and all have to integrate ... that's the situation when SAP can show it's muscles... no interfaces between systems, all the same masterdata - complete company rollout within a few weeks it is really nice when you "only" have to focus on the special things that are not covered by a implementation that you already have for other parts of the company and you can reuse more than 90 %... good SAP Implementers know their system that they can use the saved 90 % to make it simple or from technological view: changing a database because you reach the limit - no problem to exchange MS SQL to Oracle Exadata or SAP Hana.... or you reach a CPU or RAM limit -> add another server and maintain the load balancer... this can be done within one day... if the hardware already exists....
Happy New Year Andreas. Loved this video, it certainly underscores your logical approach to creating and producing your series of excellent instructable videos. Great words of wisdom to start 2023.
You other videos are great and much appreciated, but these ones not only give electronic lessons but life lessons. Still remember your standardization increases flexibility video!
About writing scripts and taking a night break between the versions.. it always amazed me, when dealing with a tough design issue and getting uncomfortable by the complexity of my ideas, how wonderful the brain seems to continue to work on it, just while you go do other things for a couple of days. That eureka moment that comes when you least expect it.
After years of watching this channel, one could easily mistake the first S in KISS as standing for 'Swiss accent'. Thank for posting this video to correct any such misunderstandings!
You may not give me all the technical answers but you give me knowledge and inspiration which is much more valuable :) Thank you Andreas (and Mishka 😻 )
Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better. - Edsger Dijkstra
One thing is also interesting: The commenters seem to be older than the average viewers age. It looks like it needs some seniority to be open for such topics. But maybe I am wrong and younger people just do not comment.
@Andreas Spiess design is largely a senior level activity and younger viewers may lack the experience to fully understand and comment on this video. One needs to have failed multiple times to realise the importance of KISS. I work at university and we routinely use several of your videos to teach our undergrad students. Your LORA mailbox notifier project is not only an interesting electronics project, but also a textbook case of understanding the requirements, deciding on the project scope, material/component selection, excellent design and attention to detail. YOU ARE A WONDERFUL TEACHER and we are blessed to learn from you. Please continue your excellent videos. Love from India! Btw, this is my first comment on RUclips.
An interesting device to analyze is the regenerative receiver. It has few parts, however understanding exactly how it works and building a good one is very challenging.
I have to say it: Many years ago, I had a KISS experience in the middle of the road that had not been particularly useful but we both had been simple and stupid and I shall remember this use case to the end of my life! I have to agree, this event had been very much in demand of both of us. Sadly, not much followed out of it.
A Chief Engineer I had some time ago asked "Which was the better machine? One which is designed to be build with tolerances of 1/4inch to the Foot or one with tolerances of 1/10,000 of an inch" (it was a long time ago btw). the answer was the quarter inch to the foot of course cos it would be reliable. He also said the a good Engineer could design/build something for a shilling what any effing idiot could do for a pound. There were many things in this presentation which hit the mark for me in particular being able to explain to another how something worked required your own understanding.
Indeed there are many aspects of the same thing. I chose KISS for this video. Important is, that we are aware of the topic and never forget to ask the right questions. As you write in your example.
@@AndreasSpiess KISS was a buzz word in the possibly late '70s, probably early '80s relating to communications programs, which is when I started to dabl in Personal Computers (NASCOM/GEMINI/CPM). To be honest I had never associated it with anything but Modem and Data transfer and yet it falls into a similar category of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality. I sometimes wish the developers of several programs I 'USED' to use often had followed that principle instead of 'improving' their product until it becomes unusable and I recall a rather catty comment I made to my mecahnically oriented immediate boss one time when he commented that my collegue, who really shouldn't have been programming machinery, was very commited to some piece of equipment cos he had been 'up there' every morning for an hour fixing it and I said something like, "Perhaps he should spend a couple or three hours, then he won't need to go tomorrow".
I think your audience as hobbies we would like to know more about cool IC that we can utilise. Your voltage supervisor IC demos was most helpful in my case. I didn't know about it before
@@solidfuel0 No. Reading all the comments, I discovered that most of the commenters are senior people. It seems that this topic does not attract younger people as much. That is why I asked.
Andreas, thanks for the video. Your analysis on KISS is straight to the point, applicable to all engineering fields. I am a software engineer by training, and have been sticking to KISS principles for years. However, in practice, we can only stick to KISS to a certain extent because for us who mostly work in a team environment, we have dependencies on others, who might or might not honor KISS as much as we do. As soon as any of our dependencies don't care about KISS, it makes KISS difficult to stick to for us. I wonder if you have any good suggestions on this situation?
As software engineer myself, I feel your pain. It always depends on the situation and if there are other packages available that do the same job, are simpler and are well maintained. When we use a dependicy that is not easy to use, we wrap it in a wrapper class. This way we seperate the complexity once and make is easier to use for our use cases.
The right level is always defined by the use case. If your organization needs a certain complicatedness, That is ok. The only possibility would then be to change the environment. I learned that every organization gets exactly the IT it deserves. And I saw huge differences ;-)
I’m confused Andreas. You say you’re an engineer and not a teacher but then you talk about your students and their thesis. So you are a teacher? Anyway you are one to me! Love the (simple but relevant) videos and life lessons. Keep up the good work and all the best for 2023!
Great topic to start a new year! Regarding making things shorter, or more concise. (11:35) This quote comes to mind “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero, philosopher and statesman. John Locke, Benjamin Franklin Woodrow Wilson, and others have variations of it.
That's a great video and well explained aspect of the design process. I wonder if you viewers would benefit from a design process video or two as well.
Happy 2023 Andreas! Some insights on ChatGPT from an AI professor interviewed on Harry Shearer's Le Show from 01/01/2023. The review starts at 20:41 and puts the software in a bit more perspective 🤯
My Director at MCI communications used to say ... "We need to focus on everything !!" My response was always ..... "The very essence of 'Focus' is the elimination of certain things" !! Needless to say - I wasn't very popular with her !! That's OK. I didn't think much of her either - laugh !!
I asked chatGPT - how does KISS influence Good, Fast, Cheap ? It responded - The KISS principle can influence the idea of good, fast, cheap by suggesting that simplicity is a key factor in achieving all three qualities. When a system is kept simple, it is often easier to create a high-quality product or service that is completed quickly and at a reasonable cost. On the other hand, if a system becomes too complex, it may be more difficult to achieve all three qualities. For example, a complex system may require more time and resources to develop, which can increase the cost and reduce the speed at which it can be completed. Additionally, the added complexity may make it more difficult to ensure that the final product is of high quality. In general, the KISS principle suggests that it is important to strive for simplicity in order to achieve good, fast, cheap outcomes. By keeping systems as simple as possible, it may be possible to create high-quality products or services that are completed quickly and at a reasonable cost. I wonder if chatGPT will be used more in comments of RUclips videos ( Happy New Year :-)
Some great material to perhaps focus you on a changing aspect of your channel @andreas? The significant improvement in your spoken English linguistic skills since I subscribed many years ago has changed the complexity of many project videos. Analogous to looking at what's in a library as well as knowing its there and using to simplify our code. Have you considered the change in your channel effected by your personal evolution; linguistics, communication, videography, media skills, engineering? I believe I notice and KISS is probably a filter to apply to editorial here? Just a thought and observation from somebody synchronied to 08:00 on a Sunday! Like a Swiss watch.
I which direction should I go? If I look back, the topics of the channel already changed quite a bit over the last years. From Morse and Arduino to ESP32, WiFi, LoRa, Raspberry to Home Automation and even PV systems recently ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess Direction is fine Andreas, for me my path has been from Zero to home automation using Node-RED and almost a business startup around LoRaWAN, I even met you once at TTN Amsterdam. But that's me and not your audience! Personally I still refer to your RUclips time to time for specific project help, mostly microcontroller hints & tips. Had you observed your deeper dive towards cimplexity folliwing your improved spoken English or is that my bias?
@@garrypkeoghConcerning complexity: Because in my professional life, I consult big companies on how to build global ERP systems, complexity has been my most important topic for the last 30 years. A few years ago, I started to replace my annual "channel statistics videos" with a video sharing some of my other learnings. This is the reason for this video. My English is also improved because I have a big helper: Grammarly ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess Your channel is essential Sunday routine, the topic lottery is worth the wait and most weeks is interesting for me so thank you for the hard work that makes it happen!
Kelly Johnson was anything but simple. 😏 But your presentation is excellent and is the correct analysis given the parameters you illustrate. Kelly Johnson's engineering philosophy was to always remember design principles cannot ignore parameters required (Specifications). These often contained parameters demanding *complex* solutions, that cannot be ignored without a significant trade-off. Airfoil design in itself, is straight forward. But if the airfoil's design has a low fatigue cycle, the design should be rejected despite its simplicity. One example of Kelly Johnson's challenge during the Blackbird program involves this problem. There was significant debate and friction, during the design of the A-12 / SR-71 wet wing fuel tank design, that intentionally leaked when cold, but sealed when the panels expanded. It was a brilliant compromise, simplified structural space limits, reduced weight and performed very well, given the design specifications required. Happy New Year!
I agree, the world is complex. No problem with that and KISS does not attack this fact. In my view it attacks overcomplication which does not create value. I remember the story about the leaking tanks (As you might know, I am a big fan of the book Skunk Works).
it's amazing how quickly people put their trust if gimmicks like chatgpt 1:14 "Not bad for a robot" Sure, if you think it actually created that text from it's AI. It didn't. It recognised the phrase, noticed that it as about the KISS principle and simply gave you the same answer google would give, but taken from other sources. 4:31 Cool. The dictionary says it like this: simplicity = "the fact that something is easy to understand or do" That implies all the rest. The irony here ofcourse is that the answer that ChatGPT gave was not simple. Keep in mind that this is AI, it's guessing based on what it's been told before. A journalist here in the Netherlands tried it to get it to write a piece about him and ChatGPT was clever enough to tell the man that he died in 2016. This is probably because somebody else with the same name and profession died that year, but this man was still verymuch alive AI = best guess based on what it's been told. It's not intelligent, it can't write text, it guesses text based on what it has seen before. The idea that AI is going to write better software than humans is simply naive. it cannot write for anything that it has not seen before; you have the ability to first train the AI on the specific system that you want it to write software for. Remember: AI is not intelligent, it makes educated guesses. It cannot come up with anything new, it can only guess that it might be able to combine existing code that it has seen before and knows some context about. it cannot even look through the code to see if it makes sense. No, l programmer's jobs are perfectly safe, if only because an employer can't tell the AI to put that one image one pixel to the left. ChatGPT is an interesting scientific experiment but that's all it is.
I do not agree at all (and I am 65). I am very skeptical about AI and usually call it pattern recognition. But chatGPT surprised me. I am a heavy Google user and of course, I compared the two. Google will not go away. But for a complex question, I got more usable answers from ChatGPT. What is particularly interesting is its understanding of context. And the language of its output is not at all like a robot. Still, it is a tool for me. But keep in mind: It is the first official version...
I wish car manufacturers would take this advice. Modern automobiles are overburdened with needless electronic junk that ends up failing and costing a ton of money to replace.
I am not sure if the manufacturers are guilty if I listen to my colleagues when they purchased a new car... BTW: I still have a 16 year old Volvo and I am happy with it. So I understand your point.
The simplest design is often not simple to design, especially if it has to interface with other designs (even future ones). You might have to take 100 ideas and requirements, crunch those down to 10 designs that will accomplish all of them then take those 10 designs into one and come out with something that is so simple that it looks like anyone could have done it without much effort and if done right, the warranty costs are almost non existent.
@@AndreasSpiess You are correct. And working as a design Ingenieur in the industry, publishing is rather limited. "Can we sell it or have we to publish it"? Up to now, all my projects could be sold 🙂Most in high volume.
and I thought "KISS" was a 1973 rock band? 🤣 When I started out in electronics in 1968 the X-navy instructor used that term. 😎 This kind of thinking made great products. 🥰 Thanks.
You've got a great channel. Somehow I always end up here when searching for new ideas, or working with new modules. Frankly at this point, I might have to add your channel in the special thanks section into my master's thesis :p And the commenters are at least as good as the video, there's always a discussion going on, people sharing their projects and experiences - got more than a few good ideas from there also. I would suggest a topic, not sure if it was done before, maybe a deeper dive on GSM modems. I'm working with the SIM7000 module, and it has heeps of features, it is an endlessly complicated system, a video on the SIM7xxx modules would be nice - I think the ESP ttgo boards use them. I also really like the unusual, exotic or new sensors from china.
Thank you for your kind words. And do not forget to add the "Appendix" chapter to get a short and concise main part in your Master Thesis ;-) I did GSM videos. But 5 years ago (GSM is switched off in many regions). I decided to come back to the topic when we get reasonable 4G modems. So far I did not come back. But maybe in 2023.
First A Happy New Year! Good video and generally I agree. Personally I have been caught with so many (other YT's) vids that gloss over parts far too much. An example Esp32 driving an OLED display for a project. Great loads of vids EXCEPT they all fall down on one area. If your project does as theirs does then fine. But say you want to have a totally different layout on the display, then there is not enough info to do that. I have contacted a great many YT'ers about their code only to find 'They copied it' and have no idea how it works! So no idea hod to change it. I agree it is always a compromise but perhaps a suggestion of either in the vids or pref in the comment put some suggested places to 'expand' on whats been done? You videos are some of the FEW on YT where you can actually repeat what you do! So many have steps missed or plain are wrong! Looking forward to more videos!
simplicity is not stupid. However, it takes a wise man to understand what is stupid. I was one of the initial subscribers to this channel (with a several name changes ;-) May be i am wrong it was launched around 2013-14 so it has been around 8-9 years. My way of thinking has changed especially where application of knowledge is required. Although i have less time (and even less energy) now. I am a father now !! My current job is in sales (order management production->sales co-ordination) They are now talking everything automated, automated weighbridge, automatic vehicle entry system, qr codes in the products and all those buzzwords. So in a way, this channel helped in my job also. But as i learned from my superiors, key to success here is to hide as much information as possible and make oneself "important" in the system -D 😆🤣🤣😆
I think I know who you are ;-) Welcome back. Congratulations that you are a father now! A big challenge, but also a lot of joy. Concerning information hiding: Machines change much faster than humans. That is why everything is automated around you and your superiors still use the same methods used 100 years ago to protect their power ;-) P.S. The channel started in summer 2015. Still a long time for me.
regarding machines and humans, Although i don't know much, there are many who know more than me i think many people see machines as a replacement of humans, like various clerks making reports based on which decisions are made and so forth. But there human intelligence and memory is limited. It is the wisdom of human (and learnings from experience & also from his "guru") where he (now she) applies it. Here in my organisation, human is seen as a plug where two systems combine. Humans are seen as someone who can be influenced but machines can't. but i have a point, who made machines and with what assumptions? May when machines reproduce machines we will have such a situation. But in that case what poor human (more aptly man) do?
Winston Churchill once started a letter to someone with the phrase “I am sorry to write you this long letter, but I don’t have the time to write you a short one”!
ok so here is my software engineer's dilemma that always gets me. i am writing a script or program. and at the beginning of the work the overall goals are clear and simple enough at the high level. however in the process of writing code you have to use kiss principles and/or other principles to structure your program. so that you don't write a bad program that you yourself cannot complete or modify later on. however as you are going along many small improvements and ideas how to improve the program functionality becomes clear. however that will also add needed complexity to implement. and if you dont consider what structural changes are required to implement them the you cannot implement them well. however if you do make accomodations then the cost to actually implement is low enough you have a much easier time doing it right there than having to go back laster. because if you dont do it now you will almost certainly forget the original vision. then have to do more work the next time, it will take more time to get back into that flow and re-remember where you left off. which is considerably less effecient. so you are constantly dealing with this programmers dillemas. there isnt a fixed spec. but if there was that woulld significantly reduce the fun and creativity. since those little additions are entirely what makes it fun and interesting. so i feel that programming is one of the more challenging activities to apply kiss principles to. at least alone,. maybe if i was a better programmer it would not be so overwhelming. or learning other tricks during flow to allow some thinking room. normally insert a comment line to go back to. but it does not solve much of the dillema, only helps me complete what else i was doing first. or perhaps with pair programming it can be a bit easier. with those second person (or a very small team to split work up) btw another good example of kiss would have been in the space industry. where simplicity does also serve to reduce the launch weight of the rocket. there are many great examples in apollo program of this being the only solution to make thinga actually even work. and another good example might be the james webb design and the deployment sequence. which you could say in many respects was not very kiss at all. however they had to ensure that the deployment was as reliable as possible. and that took a lot of work and years of delays and billions of extra dollars. so i think the lesson from james webb is that kiss is not possible to solve all problems at same time. perhaps kiss can deliver well only on 1 promise (so choose the one that is critical for success and must suffer the rest). so on the james webb space program the best they can do for everything else is simply move the rest of the problems from the problem occuring in space, over to the problem occuring during on the ground (during testing well before launch). which i suppose is not very kiss much at all. once we consider the amount of work involved. and i feel the aerospace industry is similar with aeroplanes / aircraft. they are shifting complexity out of the plane itself, to make the plane more reliable. however it requires a lot more work and effort. so the counter example for kiss is a simple product made in china that is very cheap and barely works. however it is not very reliable. and may break after only a few uses. or be broken out of the box. or have a design defect. however those simplicity of chinese product designs is also following a kiss principles very much. perhaps... too much? if we compare to a well executed western product alternative. the western product could be almost as simple. however it would use higher quality of products that costs more and are harder to make. and are qualified with a far more complex testing process. so in manufacture those production processes are where the complexity gets shifted to. and out of the end product. so i feel this is something to consider. because in engineering everything is a tradeoff including time to market. if you work harder at kiss principles then the design and creation steps becomes harder, not simpler. so this is like its own engineering compromise. for example if a company wants to bring a new product to market quickly. then there is literally no time to optimize and test. so the complexity cannot be extracted from the product (not yet, not for the first initial version). the product might use an fpga or some more complex casings and mechanical assembly. or multiple pcbs instead of everything on a single pcb. we have all seen this. and i believe this same problem also is relevant to my own programmer's dillema of too much complexity. it is something like a working state for the initial version. complexity must first be added. so that there is anything that can be removed.. it is like sculpting a statue. you have to add plaster, so that you can then take away plaster. to end up with a finished result. only with experience or natural talent can the sculptor do most of that work all in their minds. to then add only what is minimally necessary to the object. i did not start out by wanting to destroy kiss principle. and i do still think it is of value.however maybe we need to contextualize kiss principles as a subset of wider and broader common and good principles of effecient engineering. along with other things like assessing critical path. and to what extent the initial goals are to what degree actually compatible with kiss principles. since the earlier you consider this is and earliier point in the planning when you can modify those initial goals. and adapt them to become more achievable. and just be more aware of the implications of these initial goal setting decisions. for choosing the best set of compromises under the circumstances and limitations. and to break down the project into smaller sub tasks. manage expectations for what can be done well. and done to a high enough standard.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. What you describe in the first part is also called "moving target" that is one of the biggest causes for budget overruns or project failure. Why are software projects different? Because people think, additional features in SW do not cost anything. Much different to goods where additional features often increase the cost of goods sold.
You have shown the example of Johnston and his U2 and SR-71 as an example for "kiss" - an interesting exception to the rule, where being "cutting edge" and having to work successfully opposed the working principles of government contracting. If you look at American military airplanes - they were and are much more "complicated" then they need to be. If the contractor makes things more complicated he - A) can make a product or service more expensive and earn more money B) can make himself indispensable in the long run in maintenance and repair work. I am, unfortunately, witness to this force-or rule- directly opposing the principle of "kiss" and am forced to constantly fight it.
In another video, I said that trust is the biggest complexity killer. I am sure that Johnson's contracts were very short compared with today. So I think, both parties, the buyer and the seller are guilty for adding more complexity. Sometimes I think, that we would not have enough work for all of us without this excess complexity. Cost of goods sold is just a few % of many products. A lot of the rest seems to be complexity or complicatedness. I recommended my daughter to become an attorney. They live very well off the reduced trust. If you cannot beat them, join them is another important rule ;-)
I think, you are not only engeneer, but also a teacher inside ))) Could you, please, investigate and tell us about human presence sensores, available for building smart home ?
You say you are not a teacher but an engineer. I believe you used the wrong logic function. It really should be a Boolean And! There are many engineers that couldn't explain their way out of a paper bag because they lack the ability to change perspectives to that of the student. You are the best teacher an engineer could hope for.
The respect you show your viewers and your professionalism is really top notch. Thanks!
Thank you for your nice words!
I am amazed by your abelites to create projects. But more amazed by ability to present your principles in a very concise, understandable, and usable way. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words! These videos always take a little more time than anticipated because they are not easy for me...
I also feel amazed by you.
Yes, all of us are amazed !
Great video, as always!
I especially liked that you pointed out complexity ≠ complicatedness. In (mechanical) engineering there's often no super slick shortcut for a complex problem, but it helps to look at how others have solved similar problems.
No need to re-invent the wheel most of the time!
I think you are the first commenter mentioning my most important point ( complexity ≠ complicatedness). It seems to be hard to convey...
My thoughts exactly. No need to re-invent the wheel , however some times it is beneficial to our project to begin from scratch. Omitting all the unnecessary components, bells and whistles. Think what a child would do, with no previous knowledge, and no preconceptions.
Happy new year everyone.
Thank you Andreas for the time you invest in this channel.
Most complexity is self-aggrandizement of the engineers who implemented the tech.
Designing around KISS is very hard, but pays off in later days when things break and need to be fixed as soon as possible by people who didn't build it.
I do not see only one reason for complicatedness, but I agree, the creators for sure are one part of it.
It is really astonishing how you always bring things to the point! I wish you and Dishka and all the other viewers a Happy New Year!
And please keep the Channel also on this high level for the New Year in 2023🎆
Thank you for your support! I try my best to keep the quality of the videos on a level.
I always try point this thing in my industry, software development. When people get hired there is always this question coming from either recruiters or other developers: "Why you consider yourself senior, when seniors are people that have X years of experience?", with what I always answer that years of experience are never an indicator for a developer's proficiency or seniority, pointing to the thing that everybody can write complex code, hire a lot of people to maintain and operate it, but only a true master can create a piece of code so simple that even someone who never wrote code could understand. I had the luck of working on a project where such a person created and if I told you the requirements and capabilities of that project that was developed only by 2 persons over it's lifetime, you wouldn't believe me.
I agree with your observation that sometimes, small teams can achieve much more than larger teams. I learned that the goal setting and the environment is as important as the people. Many companies are not able to create such environments.
Concerning seniority: If I read all comments, I feel that the average commenters are experienced people. It is well possible that this topic attracts "senior people more than juniors. Maybe because they already know its relevance.
Thanks!
Thank you for your support!
The fresh eyes effect is indeed magical. Helps when learning new stuff and improving your own produced work. I think it works by breaking temporary mental shortcurts that are actually wrong.
I agree and I see its effect nearly every week.
Danke!
Bitte, gern geschehen. Und danke für den Support!
Yes, we had to focus on excellent channels like yours, on a platform that is made to steal your focus and tries to lead you to thousands of other suggestions. To filter out the right informations and worth to view material is the challenge.
Happy new year greetings from a guy with another accent to the neighbors country with the Swiss accent 😊
Many say that attention is the most valuable good in today's world. So we have to adapt. The same was true during the boring times of my youth, BTW. It was more or less the opposite.
As a trained engineer, scientist and hobbyist, I can underline all of this. Very well put. I like this type of videos very much. 👍
Thank you! There is every year one such video (playlist: Channel updates).
I’ve watched your videos for years. I always found them interesting and this videos concepts help to design my ideas better. You’re absolutely right about the LED example, I appreciate how I never felt like this channel regurgitated information. Thank you for respecting the intelligence that of your viewers. I’ll prolly need to rewatch this video to digest it. Thank you so much!
Thank you! Indeed, I try to attract intelligent viewers!
@@AndreasSpiess I was watching your ultrasonic sensors video and thought of something. Your videos are timeless. I mean that in a literal sense. Nassim Taleb mentions the lindy effect, and his philosophy to write a book that people want to read in the future was to write a book that people would read in the past. I watched a video you made, 6 years ago and it’s relevant as ever. You are also quite clever for someone who cannot calculate in inches and feet. The humor throughout your videos gives me chuckles throughout.
@@H0mework Thank you for your kind words. Indeed, I sometimes go back to some videos if I forget how a project works...
As a developer engineer in a group of colleagues I will recommend them to watch this video clip to keep in mind when we work on projects.
I'm so tired of youtubers facing the camera in about half an hour explaining all (and more) details before they actually come to what they want to show. This video explains how wrong they are.
Keep up the simple work!
KISS from Sweden. 👍
Thank you for your kind words!
Well done ,absolutely 'spot on' with this video. KISS is such an important principle in technology. I've just just retired after 40+ years in engineering (aircraft, electronics and networking)and I spent a lot of my latter years explaining to my teams about KISS.
Now, in my retirement I have become a trainee IoT developer, something I am finding difficult, mainly because of old-age. Your video was a good opportunity for me to step back and assess my approach to this. However, I've never forgotten the old saying: "good programmers right good code, great programmers copy good code".
I am probably your age (I am 65). So your age is no problem for learning all this new stuff. The current time is the best because we have all these (affordable) possibilities!
I always like how you respect your viewers (especially the viewers in the first row) and letting us know the secrets of your success. It's nice that your videos are all concise and focused and to the point directly. Thank you for giving us your secret recipe. I hope to see you personally face to face.
Thank you. As an old man, I hope to transfer a few of my learnings to the younger generation. Maybe it can help them to avoid some detours ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess Your knowledge, no, wisdom sharing is extremely appreciated. The knowledge is appreciated as well, but the wisdom is why I always return to your channel :)
@@MikeyAntonakakis Thank you for your kind words!
Regarding your point about the length of videos and selecting the right materials, Churchill said "If you want me to speak for two minutes, it will take me three weeks of preparation. If you want me to speak for thirty minutes, it will take me a week to prepare. If you want me to speak for an hour, I am ready now." Thank you for your videos and inspiration.
Also a wise word from Churchill. And he is right!
Great video Andreas! I agree fully to your video, but what you didn't mention is your great experience from many years as an engineer. From this experience you also indirectly implement KISS to sell an idea to others.
I agree, experience for sure help. And it has to be combined with reflection. Otherwise it also can lead to the "not invented here" syndrome...
I've got to add to this - "if it works don't fix it" and "I've improved it worse". Just look at a modern car, so massively overcomplicated we can no longer fix them and if a second hand one breaks down it can be scrapped just because it is impossible to do an affordable repair.
Cars is an interesting topic for KISS. If you would be right, the old Landrover would be the star of the car shows! But it is discontinued and replaced by a modern one. I think, a lot of people love the gadgets in their cars and only care about repairs when it is broken. (I drive a 17 year old Volvo)
You have a great Channel just keep up the Good Work and a Happy 2023!
Thank you! And happy 2023, too!
Thank you and keep up the good work in 2023.
You are welcome!
The effort you put into balancing the level and length of your videos is truly impressive!
:-)
Another aspect of KISS during the development stage is not to try and do it all at once. If your end-product has multiple desired functions, prioritise the "minimum viable" ones, get those to work reliably, and add in the other necessary functions when those are stable, checking that the new functions do not break the old ones.
Too many times I have got bogged down trying to implement the whole user interface in one go, or work out how to get all the data to fill packets from the outset; sometimes you just need to leave placeholders and go back to that once the main function of the device is working. You may also discover that features you considered essential are not, or can be done in a different way or by the systems receiving the data rather than the one you are building.
I agree that breaking up things in components is very valuable. Still, a viable architecture has to exist. This is where I sometimes have problems with "agile" where people think you can start without an architecture and just add features over time.
@@AndreasSpiess Yes, one of the main things to consider from the outset is the archetecture you are aiming for, as this will influence what modules you start out with, and how you fit in new functions. Speaking as someone who was in software dev for 40 years, too much of "agile" has been used as an excuse for lack of planning, where really it should be the complete opposite, know where you are going but get there step by step.
Thanks for your videos.
Not every one you do is for me - but you hit the mark often enough!
My channel offers quite different topics. So it is natural that not all videos are for everybody. Still, I appreciate that you took the time to watch this one and write a comment.
Gosh! The most inspirational video to date!!! What a lesson :)
Glad you think so!
This is one fantastic channel and I have definitely benefited from your content. Happy new year Andreas! I look forward to what you have in store for 2023.
Thank you for your kind words. I hope I will hit some interesting topics...
Very well said. Thank you for reminding me about this very important principle.
My pleasure!
ive used KISS since grade 6. thanks Mr.B
Very good!
Excellent explanation Andreas! Happy new year and thanks for the videos.
Happy new year! And thank you.
Thanks Andreas and all the best !
You are welcome!
Another great reminder of great design. You could even go further and talk about the 10 rules of good design, originally authored by Dieter Rams about 70 years ago. 🙂
I did not know Mr. Rams. But now, I know his 10 rules! I always learn from my viewers.
@@AndreasSpiess Many think that Apple came up with these 10 rules. But they have been around much much longer than Apple. But Apple has used them and have profited greatly from them.
Happy, safe and healthy 2023. I also have a Cat that follows me everywhere and I brush it like that too.
Thank you. Happy 2023 to you and your cat, too!
A very happy new year secondly thanks for your KISS videos and thanks for the content aswell
You are welcome. And a happy 2023!
Happy and healthy 2023 to you, too. You should not forget one goal of your videos: they should be entertaining, at least for me this is also key, and the reason I became a Patreon.
At work (pro software development company, me being responsible for about 30 software developers) we call it featuritis, when people try to add more or less useless or use-limited functionality. And we mostly think of such Featuritis to be a disease.
For ChatGPT and the risks of it: I do not think AI will be able to replace real software developers. It is a difference to collect knowledge from zillions of online available blink sketches versus coming up with a true solution from scratch inside a real world software project. And in my opinion the real risk is that guys trust the provided software snippets too much, do not gain any understanding of what is inside this suggested code snippet, and cannot reproduce anything of it without external help. Sometimes I see developers copying code snippets they found via google, into their professional software solution. I always ask, if they understood what is happening there, and if they answer with "no, but it works", I force them to gain some understanding before using those snippets. This is what separates a human software developer from a chat-bot. But of course, this is just my point of view.
As an engineer, I am a little reluctant to mention "entertaining". But of course, I know what you mean...
Concerning ChatGPT: I separated the "analytical" part from the coding part with a reason. If ChatGPT becomes a better compiler which can be programmed at a higher level, I hope it can remove a lot of boring coding time which can be spent for creating better solutions.
Concerning understanding the lower layers, I shared my thinking. But I always trust testing more than coding. "A system not tested is not working" is my credo
I wish I could like this more than once! I’ve never seen the concept of complexity and how it handled it explained so well.
Glad it was helpful!
as a software developer for SAP ERP i am always between a extremly complex system that can be simplified for users (if the consultant/devoloper can AND wants that). you got the point in your video and provided a lot topics to improve my work further! thanks a lot for your (as always on the spot) input! greetings from tyrol!
I implemented SAP systems for the last nearly 30 years and learned a lot about complexity ;-)
@@MrPerrey SAP needs to be complex because it has to fit many industry and country specifications. However, many customers add complicatedness because of various reasons. My point of view: Every company gets exactly the SAP implementation it deserves. I saw some very complicated companies. No wonder they got a complicated SAP system ;-)
@@MrPerrey i fully agree with you - SAP seems may to complicated - but when when you have to integrate a worldwide company with 90 companies in different countries and all have to integrate ... that's the situation when SAP can show it's muscles... no interfaces between systems, all the same masterdata - complete company rollout within a few weeks
it is really nice when you "only" have to focus on the special things that are not covered by a implementation that you already have for other parts of the company and you can reuse more than 90 %... good SAP Implementers know their system that they can use the saved 90 % to make it simple
or from technological view: changing a database because you reach the limit - no problem to exchange MS SQL to Oracle Exadata or SAP Hana.... or you reach a CPU or RAM limit -> add another server and maintain the load balancer... this can be done within one day... if the hardware already exists....
Happy New Year Andreas. Loved this video, it certainly underscores your logical approach to creating and producing your series of excellent instructable videos. Great words of wisdom to start 2023.
Thank you! I usually try to let my viewers see "behind the curtain" to understand what they can expect and why.
Thank you Andreas, today you are my favorite:-)
Thank you. Glad you found the time to watch this video!
I salute you!
and thank you!
You are welcome!
You other videos are great and much appreciated, but these ones not only give electronic lessons but life lessons.
Still remember your standardization increases flexibility video!
A few years ago I decided to do one such video a year (instead of RUclips statistics). Glad you like it.
Interesting overview of project management and engineering that applies to the majority of maker tasks - Thank You
You are welcome!
About writing scripts and taking a night break between the versions.. it always amazed me, when dealing with a tough design issue and getting uncomfortable by the complexity of my ideas, how wonderful the brain seems to continue to work on it, just while you go do other things for a couple of days. That eureka moment that comes when you least expect it.
A pitty that this fact still is handled like a secret...
Thank you for the video’s and ideas, you are a true respected inspiration. Happy 2023!
You are welcome! I am glad you like my videos.
Many wise details in this video, Mr. Spiess. :D I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you.
My pleasure!
After years of watching this channel, one could easily mistake the first S in KISS as standing for 'Swiss accent'. Thank for posting this video to correct any such misunderstandings!
Thank you for your loyalty over the years!
Very good overview as always! Happy new year and many exciting projects!
Thank you! Happy 2023, too!
Happy new year. Greetings from Switzerland, I'm a Swiss Guy too! Love your videos please continue what you're doing!
Thank you! I plan to continue the channel at least through 2023.
You may not give me all the technical answers but you give me knowledge and inspiration which is much more valuable :)
Thank you Andreas (and Mishka 😻 )
*Dishka
Thank you! Yes, inspiration is very important, also for me.
Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better. - Edsger Dijkstra
One thing is also interesting: The commenters seem to be older than the average viewers age. It looks like it needs some seniority to be open for such topics. But maybe I am wrong and younger people just do not comment.
@Andreas Spiess design is largely a senior level activity and younger viewers may lack the experience to fully understand and comment on this video. One needs to have failed multiple times to realise the importance of KISS.
I work at university and we routinely use several of your videos to teach our undergrad students. Your LORA mailbox notifier project is not only an interesting electronics project, but also a textbook case of understanding the requirements, deciding on the project scope, material/component selection, excellent design and attention to detail.
YOU ARE A WONDERFUL TEACHER and we are blessed to learn from you. Please continue your excellent videos. Love from India!
Btw, this is my first comment on RUclips.
Thank you.
You're welcome!
An interesting device to analyze is the regenerative receiver. It has few parts, however understanding exactly how it works and building a good one is very challenging.
I built one (with a tube) in another video...
Great video! Definitely applies to everything in life, not only videos, products or projects! :)
Very well explained.
I agree. Fortunately it can be used for other situations. Because not many of my viewers are RUclipsrs seeking for advice on how to make films ;-)
Nice to see you again sir,,,,,,,, happy new year to you and your family,,,,,, with ❤️,,,,,,
Same to you!
I have to say it: Many years ago, I had a KISS experience in the middle of the road that had not been particularly useful but we both had been simple and stupid and I shall remember this use case to the end of my life!
I have to agree, this event had been very much in demand of both of us. Sadly, not much followed out of it.
I read the comment a few times. But I need help to understand it :-(
@@AndreasSpiess Ah sorry. I kissed a girl on the way out of a café, several years ago :)
I thought it was something like that. But was not sure ;-)
A Chief Engineer I had some time ago asked "Which was the better machine? One which is designed to be build with tolerances of 1/4inch to the Foot or one with tolerances of 1/10,000 of an inch" (it was a long time ago btw). the answer was the quarter inch to the foot of course cos it would be reliable. He also said the a good Engineer could design/build something for a shilling what any effing idiot could do for a pound.
There were many things in this presentation which hit the mark for me in particular being able to explain to another how something worked required your own understanding.
Indeed there are many aspects of the same thing. I chose KISS for this video. Important is, that we are aware of the topic and never forget to ask the right questions. As you write in your example.
@@AndreasSpiess KISS was a buzz word in the possibly late '70s, probably early '80s relating to communications programs, which is when I started to dabl in Personal Computers (NASCOM/GEMINI/CPM). To be honest I had never associated it with anything but Modem and Data transfer and yet it falls into a similar category of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality. I sometimes wish the developers of several programs I 'USED' to use often had followed that principle instead of 'improving' their product until it becomes unusable and I recall a rather catty comment I made to my mecahnically oriented immediate boss one time when he commented that my collegue, who really shouldn't have been programming machinery, was very commited to some piece of equipment cos he had been 'up there' every morning for an hour fixing it and I said something like, "Perhaps he should spend a couple or three hours, then he won't need to go tomorrow".
But you ARE one heck of a great teacher whether you know it or not!
Thank you!
Happy and healthy 2023 to you and your family (which includes your 😺), Andreas!
Thank you. I will tell her ;-)
I think your audience as hobbies we would like to know more about cool IC that we can utilise. Your voltage supervisor IC demos was most helpful in my case. I didn't know about it before
I could do with a video on hall effect chips, or eeprom chips
Thank you for your info. What is your age?
@@AndreasSpiess me? Born 86. Is there cool ICs according to age :) 😀
@@solidfuel0 No. Reading all the comments, I discovered that most of the commenters are senior people. It seems that this topic does not attract younger people as much. That is why I asked.
Andreas, thanks for the video. Your analysis on KISS is straight to the point, applicable to all engineering fields. I am a software engineer by training, and have been sticking to KISS principles for years. However, in practice, we can only stick to KISS to a certain extent because for us who mostly work in a team environment, we have dependencies on others, who might or might not honor KISS as much as we do. As soon as any of our dependencies don't care about KISS, it makes KISS difficult to stick to for us. I wonder if you have any good suggestions on this situation?
As software engineer myself, I feel your pain.
It always depends on the situation and if there are other packages available that do the same job, are simpler and are well maintained.
When we use a dependicy that is not easy to use, we wrap it in a wrapper class. This way we seperate the complexity once and make is easier to use for our use cases.
The right level is always defined by the use case. If your organization needs a certain complicatedness, That is ok. The only possibility would then be to change the environment.
I learned that every organization gets exactly the IT it deserves. And I saw huge differences ;-)
Keep it good and functional.
That's the plan!
Great video, thank you and happy new year
You are welcome!
Brilliant advice!
Thank you!
I’m confused Andreas. You say you’re an engineer and not a teacher but then you talk about your students and their thesis. So you are a teacher? Anyway you are one to me! Love the (simple but relevant) videos and life lessons. Keep up the good work and all the best for 2023!
I gave lecturers during my active time. And now, I sometimes am an expert for different papers. But in my heart, I am an engineer!
TRUE Andreas, briljant! haha, I now realise I also use KISS on my work as an IT engineer. Not always understood:-)
Very good! Now knowing where it comes from, you can brag that you behave like Kelly Johnson ;-)
Great topic to start a new year!
Regarding making things shorter, or more concise. (11:35) This quote comes to mind
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero, philosopher and statesman. John Locke, Benjamin Franklin Woodrow Wilson, and others have variations of it.
This seems to be a quote which seems to be attached to all famous people ;-) In German, it is Göthe ;-) Still, it is a good one.
You ARE a teacher! I sit in the first row.
Thank you! As said, I do not only want to repeat things I learned long time ago. This is why I said, I am not (only) a teacher ;-)
Very interesting channel , i'm glad i found it =)
Welcome aboard!
I like to think of it as "Keep It Simple Smart" ^^
You are right, a few variations exist.
That's a great video and well explained aspect of the design process. I wonder if you viewers would benefit from a design process video or two as well.
I try to stick to one such video every year where I try to share my lifelong learnings. Views show that it is only for the "hardcore" subscribers.
Awesome !
Thank you!
Hi Andreass, Happy 2023+ 2 U2 and keep us curious in technology with your RI (Real Intelligence :p)!
Thank you. Wilco.
Thank you for keep making good quality video content! Good quality is becoming more and more rare these days on internet
You are welcome!
you said it all
Thank you!
Nice video, thanks :)
Glad you liked it!
Great advice presented in a great way = the way you usually do things 👍🏻
A belated Happy New Year to ya all 🎉
Thank you! And a happy 2023, too.
Happy 2023 Andreas! Some insights on ChatGPT from an AI professor interviewed on Harry Shearer's Le Show from 01/01/2023. The review starts at 20:41 and puts the software in a bit more perspective 🤯
Thank you. Unfortunately, the video in your link is only 14 minutes long :-(
My Director at MCI communications used to say ... "We need to focus on everything !!" My response was always ..... "The very essence of 'Focus' is the elimination of certain things" !! Needless to say - I wasn't very popular with her !! That's OK. I didn't think much of her either - laugh !!
She did not understand a lot in this respect. Strategy always start with saying "no" to many things...
A very thoughtful video. Thank you for your efforts to understand things enough to present them simply!
:-) You are welcome!
I asked chatGPT - how does KISS influence Good, Fast, Cheap ? It responded - The KISS principle can influence the idea of good, fast, cheap by suggesting that simplicity is a key factor in achieving all three qualities. When a system is kept simple, it is often easier to create a high-quality product or service that is completed quickly and at a reasonable cost. On the other hand, if a system becomes too complex, it may be more difficult to achieve all three qualities. For example, a complex system may require more time and resources to develop, which can increase the cost and reduce the speed at which it can be completed. Additionally, the added complexity may make it more difficult to ensure that the final product is of high quality.
In general, the KISS principle suggests that it is important to strive for simplicity in order to achieve good, fast, cheap outcomes. By keeping systems as simple as possible, it may be possible to create high-quality products or services that are completed quickly and at a reasonable cost.
I wonder if chatGPT will be used more in comments of RUclips videos ( Happy New Year :-)
So you can become a RUclipsr ;-)
Some great material to perhaps focus you on a changing aspect of your channel @andreas?
The significant improvement in your spoken English linguistic skills since I subscribed many years ago has changed the complexity of many project videos. Analogous to looking at what's in a library as well as knowing its there and using to simplify our code.
Have you considered the change in your channel effected by your personal evolution; linguistics, communication, videography, media skills, engineering? I believe I notice and KISS is probably a filter to apply to editorial here?
Just a thought and observation from somebody synchronied to 08:00 on a Sunday! Like a Swiss watch.
I which direction should I go?
If I look back, the topics of the channel already changed quite a bit over the last years. From Morse and Arduino to ESP32, WiFi, LoRa, Raspberry to Home Automation and even PV systems recently ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess Direction is fine Andreas, for me my path has been from Zero to home automation using Node-RED and almost a business startup around LoRaWAN, I even met you once at TTN Amsterdam. But that's me and not your audience! Personally I still refer to your RUclips time to time for specific project help, mostly microcontroller hints & tips.
Had you observed your deeper dive towards cimplexity folliwing your improved spoken English or is that my bias?
@@garrypkeoghConcerning complexity: Because in my professional life, I consult big companies on how to build global ERP systems, complexity has been my most important topic for the last 30 years.
A few years ago, I started to replace my annual "channel statistics videos" with a video sharing some of my other learnings. This is the reason for this video.
My English is also improved because I have a big helper: Grammarly ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess Your channel is essential Sunday routine, the topic lottery is worth the wait and most weeks is interesting for me so thank you for the hard work that makes it happen!
Kelly Johnson was anything but simple. 😏 But your presentation is excellent and is the correct analysis given the parameters you illustrate.
Kelly Johnson's engineering philosophy was to always remember design principles cannot ignore parameters required (Specifications).
These often contained parameters demanding *complex* solutions, that cannot be ignored without a significant trade-off.
Airfoil design in itself, is straight forward. But if the airfoil's design has a low fatigue cycle, the design should be rejected despite its simplicity.
One example of Kelly Johnson's challenge during the Blackbird program involves this problem.
There was significant debate and friction, during the design of the A-12 / SR-71 wet wing fuel tank design, that intentionally leaked when cold, but sealed when the panels expanded.
It was a brilliant compromise, simplified structural space limits, reduced weight and performed very well, given the design specifications required.
Happy New Year!
I agree, the world is complex. No problem with that and KISS does not attack this fact. In my view it attacks overcomplication which does not create value. I remember the story about the leaking tanks (As you might know, I am a big fan of the book Skunk Works).
it's amazing how quickly people put their trust if gimmicks like chatgpt
1:14 "Not bad for a robot"
Sure, if you think it actually created that text from it's AI. It didn't. It recognised the phrase, noticed that it as about the KISS principle and simply gave you the same answer google would give, but taken from other sources.
4:31 Cool. The dictionary says it like this: simplicity = "the fact that something is easy to understand or do" That implies all the rest. The irony here ofcourse is that the answer that ChatGPT gave was not simple.
Keep in mind that this is AI, it's guessing based on what it's been told before. A journalist here in the Netherlands tried it to get it to write a piece about him and ChatGPT was clever enough to tell the man that he died in 2016. This is probably because somebody else with the same name and profession died that year, but this man was still verymuch alive
AI = best guess based on what it's been told. It's not intelligent, it can't write text, it guesses text based on what it has seen before.
The idea that AI is going to write better software than humans is simply naive. it cannot write for anything that it has not seen before; you have the ability to first train the AI on the specific system that you want it to write software for. Remember: AI is not intelligent, it makes educated guesses. It cannot come up with anything new, it can only guess that it might be able to combine existing code that it has seen before and knows some context about. it cannot even look through the code to see if it makes sense.
No, l programmer's jobs are perfectly safe, if only because an employer can't tell the AI to put that one image one pixel to the left.
ChatGPT is an interesting scientific experiment but that's all it is.
I do not agree at all (and I am 65). I am very skeptical about AI and usually call it pattern recognition. But chatGPT surprised me. I am a heavy Google user and of course, I compared the two. Google will not go away. But for a complex question, I got more usable answers from ChatGPT.
What is particularly interesting is its understanding of context. And the language of its output is not at all like a robot.
Still, it is a tool for me. But keep in mind: It is the first official version...
The most difficult thing in (IT) projects is to follow the KISS principle especially the longer it takes.... 🤔 good video! 😀
Agreed. And often, if you have "scope creep", projects get longer...
@@AndreasSpiess definitely!
I wish car manufacturers would take this advice. Modern automobiles are overburdened with needless electronic junk that ends up failing and costing a ton of money to replace.
I am not sure if the manufacturers are guilty if I listen to my colleagues when they purchased a new car...
BTW: I still have a 16 year old Volvo and I am happy with it. So I understand your point.
The simplest design is often not simple to design, especially if it has to interface with other designs (even future ones). You might have to take 100 ideas and requirements, crunch those down to 10 designs that will accomplish all of them then take those 10 designs into one and come out with something that is so simple that it looks like anyone could have done it without much effort and if done right, the warranty costs are almost non existent.
I agree! It is good if people do not understand why it took you such a long time to understand this "simple" problem ;-)
Thanks! I am also a big fan of KISS as well as CCC (competence, consequence, continuity), or KKK as we spell it in our language.
I never heard of the KKK principle and Google does not know a lot about it. ChatGPT says it is used in AI ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess Yes, maybe. It is invented here, by me nearly 3 decades ago :-) Apparently I did not publish it enough.
@@klassichd10 Back then, it was harder to publish online, I think ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess You are correct. And working as a design Ingenieur in the industry, publishing is rather limited. "Can we sell it or have we to publish it"? Up to now, all my projects could be sold 🙂Most in high volume.
and I thought "KISS" was a 1973 rock band? 🤣 When I started out in electronics in 1968 the X-navy instructor used that term. 😎 This kind of thinking made great products. 🥰 Thanks.
We are both old enough to remember the rock band ;-)
You've got a great channel. Somehow I always end up here when searching for new ideas, or working with new modules. Frankly at this point, I might have to add your channel in the special thanks section into my master's thesis :p
And the commenters are at least as good as the video, there's always a discussion going on, people sharing their projects and experiences - got more than a few good ideas from there also.
I would suggest a topic, not sure if it was done before, maybe a deeper dive on GSM modems. I'm working with the SIM7000 module, and it has heeps of features, it is an endlessly complicated system, a video on the SIM7xxx modules would be nice - I think the ESP ttgo boards use them.
I also really like the unusual, exotic or new sensors from china.
Thank you for your kind words. And do not forget to add the "Appendix" chapter to get a short and concise main part in your Master Thesis ;-)
I did GSM videos. But 5 years ago (GSM is switched off in many regions). I decided to come back to the topic when we get reasonable 4G modems. So far I did not come back. But maybe in 2023.
I have a 37 step process I use to implement KISS.
Seems to be a thorough practice. Glad it helps!
First A Happy New Year! Good video and generally I agree. Personally I have been caught with so many (other YT's) vids that gloss over parts far too much. An example Esp32 driving an OLED display for a project. Great loads of vids EXCEPT they all fall down on one area. If your project does as theirs does then fine. But say you want to have a totally different layout on the display, then there is not enough info to do that. I have contacted a great many YT'ers about their code only to find 'They copied it' and have no idea how it works! So no idea hod to change it. I agree it is always a compromise but perhaps a suggestion of either in the vids or pref in the comment put some suggested places to 'expand' on whats been done?
You videos are some of the FEW on YT where you can actually repeat what you do! So many have steps missed or plain are wrong! Looking forward to more videos!
Glad you like my videos! As said, I try to always cover a bit of the next level below. Maybe this helps a bit in this respect.
simplicity is not stupid. However, it takes a wise man to understand what is stupid. I was one of the initial subscribers to this channel (with a several name changes ;-) May be i am wrong it was launched around 2013-14 so it has been around 8-9 years. My way of thinking has changed especially where application of knowledge is required. Although i have less time (and even less energy) now. I am a father now !!
My current job is in sales (order management production->sales co-ordination) They are now talking everything automated, automated weighbridge, automatic vehicle entry system, qr codes in the products and all those buzzwords. So in a way, this channel helped in my job also. But as i learned from my superiors, key to success here is to hide as much information as possible and make oneself "important" in the system -D
😆🤣🤣😆
I think I know who you are ;-) Welcome back.
Congratulations that you are a father now! A big challenge, but also a lot of joy.
Concerning information hiding: Machines change much faster than humans. That is why everything is automated around you and your superiors still use the same methods used 100 years ago to protect their power ;-)
P.S. The channel started in summer 2015. Still a long time for me.
regarding machines and humans, Although i don't know much, there are many who know more than me i think many people see machines as a replacement of humans, like various clerks making reports based on which decisions are made and so forth. But there human intelligence and memory is limited. It is the wisdom of human (and learnings from experience & also from his "guru") where he (now she) applies it. Here in my organisation, human is seen as a plug where two systems combine. Humans are seen as someone who can be influenced but machines can't. but i have a point, who made machines and with what assumptions? May when machines reproduce machines we will have such a situation. But in that case what poor human (more aptly man) do?
dishka approves
Indeed!
Winston Churchill once started a letter to someone with the phrase “I am sorry to write you this long letter, but I don’t have the time to write you a short one”!
This is a very good sentence. In German, we often attribute it to Göthe ;-)
When I taught electronics and design and technology, the first lesson was always entitled "KISS". Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
Good idea to start with this topic because it influences all the rest.
As Einstein said, any fool can make things bigger and complex. It takes a genius to move in the opposite direction.
Exactly!
ok so here is my software engineer's dilemma that always gets me. i am writing a script or program. and at the beginning of the work the overall goals are clear and simple enough at the high level. however in the process of writing code you have to use kiss principles and/or other principles to structure your program. so that you don't write a bad program that you yourself cannot complete or modify later on. however as you are going along many small improvements and ideas how to improve the program functionality becomes clear. however that will also add needed complexity to implement. and if you dont consider what structural changes are required to implement them the you cannot implement them well. however if you do make accomodations then the cost to actually implement is low enough you have a much easier time doing it right there than having to go back laster. because if you dont do it now you will almost certainly forget the original vision. then have to do more work the next time, it will take more time to get back into that flow and re-remember where you left off. which is considerably less effecient.
so you are constantly dealing with this programmers dillemas. there isnt a fixed spec. but if there was that woulld significantly reduce the fun and creativity. since those little additions are entirely what makes it fun and interesting.
so i feel that programming is one of the more challenging activities to apply kiss principles to. at least alone,. maybe if i was a better programmer it would not be so overwhelming. or learning other tricks during flow to allow some thinking room. normally insert a comment line to go back to. but it does not solve much of the dillema, only helps me complete what else i was doing first.
or perhaps with pair programming it can be a bit easier. with those second person (or a very small team to split work up)
btw another good example of kiss would have been in the space industry. where simplicity does also serve to reduce the launch weight of the rocket. there are many great examples in apollo program of this being the only solution to make thinga actually even work. and another good example might be the james webb design and the deployment sequence. which you could say in many respects was not very kiss at all. however they had to ensure that the deployment was as reliable as possible. and that took a lot of work and years of delays and billions of extra dollars. so i think the lesson from james webb is that kiss is not possible to solve all problems at same time. perhaps kiss can deliver well only on 1 promise (so choose the one that is critical for success and must suffer the rest). so on the james webb space program the best they can do for everything else is simply move the rest of the problems from the problem occuring in space, over to the problem occuring during on the ground (during testing well before launch). which i suppose is not very kiss much at all. once we consider the amount of work involved.
and i feel the aerospace industry is similar with aeroplanes / aircraft. they are shifting complexity out of the plane itself, to make the plane more reliable. however it requires a lot more work and effort. so the counter example for kiss is a simple product made in china that is very cheap and barely works. however it is not very reliable. and may break after only a few uses. or be broken out of the box. or have a design defect. however those simplicity of chinese product designs is also following a kiss principles very much. perhaps... too much? if we compare to a well executed western product alternative. the western product could be almost as simple. however it would use higher quality of products that costs more and are harder to make. and are qualified with a far more complex testing process. so in manufacture those production processes are where the complexity gets shifted to. and out of the end product. so i feel this is something to consider. because in engineering everything is a tradeoff including time to market. if you work harder at kiss principles then the design and creation steps becomes harder, not simpler. so this is like its own engineering compromise. for example if a company wants to bring a new product to market quickly. then there is literally no time to optimize and test. so the complexity cannot be extracted from the product (not yet, not for the first initial version). the product might use an fpga or some more complex casings and mechanical assembly. or multiple pcbs instead of everything on a single pcb. we have all seen this. and i believe this same problem also is relevant to my own programmer's dillema of too much complexity. it is something like a working state for the initial version. complexity must first be added. so that there is anything that can be removed.. it is like sculpting a statue. you have to add plaster, so that you can then take away plaster. to end up with a finished result. only with experience or natural talent can the sculptor do most of that work all in their minds. to then add only what is minimally necessary to the object.
i did not start out by wanting to destroy kiss principle. and i do still think it is of value.however maybe we need to contextualize kiss principles as a subset of wider and broader common and good principles of effecient engineering. along with other things like assessing critical path. and to what extent the initial goals are to what degree actually compatible with kiss principles. since the earlier you consider this is and earliier point in the planning when you can modify those initial goals. and adapt them to become more achievable. and just be more aware of the implications of these initial goal setting decisions. for choosing the best set of compromises under the circumstances and limitations. and to break down the project into smaller sub tasks. manage expectations for what can be done well. and done to a high enough standard.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. What you describe in the first part is also called "moving target" that is one of the biggest causes for budget overruns or project failure.
Why are software projects different? Because people think, additional features in SW do not cost anything. Much different to goods where additional features often increase the cost of goods sold.
If you could get her to do the projects she could support you🙃😎
For the moment, she usually blocks half of the main screen and I have to throw her out when I record the video. She is too loud ;-)
You can not invent the unknown with known. But humans have the unknown ability to discover the unknown
I agree.
You have shown the example of Johnston and his U2 and SR-71 as an example for "kiss" - an interesting exception to the rule, where being "cutting edge" and having to work successfully opposed the working principles of government contracting. If you look at American military airplanes - they were and are much more "complicated" then they need to be. If the contractor makes things more complicated he - A) can make a product or service more expensive and earn more money B) can make himself indispensable in the long run in maintenance and repair work. I am, unfortunately, witness to this force-or rule- directly opposing the principle of "kiss" and am forced to constantly fight it.
In another video, I said that trust is the biggest complexity killer. I am sure that Johnson's contracts were very short compared with today. So I think, both parties, the buyer and the seller are guilty for adding more complexity.
Sometimes I think, that we would not have enough work for all of us without this excess complexity. Cost of goods sold is just a few % of many products. A lot of the rest seems to be complexity or complicatedness.
I recommended my daughter to become an attorney. They live very well off the reduced trust. If you cannot beat them, join them is another important rule ;-)
I think, you are not only engeneer, but also a teacher inside )))
Could you, please, investigate and tell us about human presence sensores, available for building smart home ?
Thank you!
I recently made a video about one of the new 24GHz sensors appearing on the market.
You say you are not a teacher but an engineer. I believe you used the wrong logic function. It really should be a Boolean And! There are many engineers that couldn't explain their way out of a paper bag because they lack the ability to change perspectives to that of the student. You are the best teacher an engineer could hope for.
I am a trained engineer (with an MBA and a PhD in Business Administration, which probably helps with teaching).