Complexity is not neutral.
It’s either leverage or sabotage.

The CIA knew this very well.
In 1944, they published the Simple Sabotage Field Manual to teach how to quietly destroy an organization from the inside.
How?
Endless meetings.
Complicated procedures.
Strict chains of command.
Insisting on “doing everything by the book.”

In other words:
Use complexity as a weapon.
Slow everything down.
Kill momentum.

If you want strategy, tactics, and operations to compound, you have to do the opposite: simplify on purpose.

At the strategic level, simplification means cutting bets.
Fewer goals.
Clear direction.
No “strategy by wishlist.”

At the tactical level, simplification means fewer initiatives.
A small set of programs that actually push the strategy forward.
No side quests.

At the operational level, simplification lives inside the task itself.
Here, Norman’s EAS framework (Eliminate, Automate, Simplify) apply:

Keep the task, add support.
Same job, but with clear steps, checklists, and tools so people don’t waste brainpower on guessing.

Make the invisible visible.
Feedback, dashboards, signals.
The user sees what’s happening and stays in control.

Automate the routine.
The system handles repetitive work.
Humans focus on judgment and decisions.

Redesign the task with care.
Use automation to change the task only if it keeps, or increases, human control, not kills it.

Stack this across all three levels and you get clean strategy, sharp tactics, simple operations.
You remove friction instead of building it.

You’re not just working harder.
You’re making impossible to sabotage yourself.