The Making Things Harder List

The plan for every major project should include a Making It Harder List. 

That one sheet can be a simple accounting of ways in which, if we don't watch out, a project can be made more difficult. It can include traditional approaches such as "Refuse to seek help" and "Let your research be never-ending" but new ones are also likely to appear.

Acknowledging and controlling our proclivity for complexity can help to produce simplicity. Teams don't just tackle problems, they also produce a few along the way.