Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition
by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler
078 Gall’s Law
All successful complex things begin as simple things and become complex through iteration.
Gall’s law, proposed by the systems theorist John Gall, states that all successful complex systems begin as simple systems and achieve complexity through iterative modification over time — i.e., they never start out as complex systems. This is always true in the evolution of complex systems, and it is generally true in the design of complex systems. The full quote by John Gall: “A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system”. 1
Complexity can ...
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