Excerpt from the book Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity by Irene Etzkorn and Alan Siegel:

We use the term breakthrough simplicity to describe an approach to innovation that is rooted in finding new ways to make everything simpler. It’s a way of thinking that, once adopted, enables you to envision and pursue a wide range of possibilities that can lead to major breakthroughs.

This puts a fresh spin on “innovation”—that much-used, oft-misunderstood buzzword. There’s a tendency to think of innovation as coming up with the latest gadget, or adding new features onto existing ones. But the concept of breakthrough simplicity recognizes that today, the most powerful forms of innovation don’t manifest themselves in new bells and whistles. They take the form of better customer experiences (or patient experiences, or citizen experiences). And one of the best ways to improve any experience is to simplify it—to remove complications, unnecessary layers, hassles or distractions, while focusing in on the essence of what people want and need in that particular situation.