KISS, anacronym for "Keep it simple, stupid!", is adesign principle first noted by theU.S. Navy in 1960.[1][2] First seen partly inAmerican English by at least 1938, KISS implies thatsimplicity should be a design goal. The phrase has been associated with aircraft engineerKelly Johnson.[3] The term "KISS principle" was in popular use by 1970.[4] Variations on the phrase (usually as someeuphemism for the more churlish "stupid") include "keep it super simple", "keep it simple, silly", "keep it short and simple", "keep it short and sweet", "keep it simple and straightforward",[5] "keep it small and simple", "keep it simple, soldier",[6] "keep it simple, sailor", "keep it simple, sweetie",[7] "keep it stupidly simple", or "keep it sweet and simple".
While popular usage has transcribed it for decades as "Keep it simple, stupid", Johnson transcribed it simply as "Keep it simple stupid" (no comma), and this reading is still used by many authors.[9]
The principle is best exemplified by the story of Johnson handing a team of design engineers a handful of tools, with the challenge that thejet aircraft they were designing must be repairable by an averagemechanic in the field under combat conditions with only these tools. Hence, the "stupid" refers to the relationship between the way things break and the sophistication available to repair them.
Dr. Seuss's ode to brevity: "So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads";
Johan Cruyff's "Playing football is very simple but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is";
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away";
Colin Chapman, the founder ofLotus Cars, urged his designers to "Simplify, then add lightness";
Attributed toAlbert Einstein, although this may be an editor's paraphrase of a lecture he gave,[10] "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler";
Heath Robinson contraptions andRube Goldberg's machines, intentionally overly-complex solutions to simple tasks or problems, are humorous examples of "non-KISS" solutions.
^The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English, Tom Dalzell, 2009, 1104 pages, p.595, webpage:BGoogle-5F: notes U.S. Navy "Project KISS" of 1960, headed byRear Admiral Paul D. Stroop,Chicago Daily Tribune, p.43, 4 December 1960.
^The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang, Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, Psychology Press, 2007, p.384.
^Pit & Quarry, Vol. 63, July 1970, p.172, quote: "as in every other step of the development process, follow the KISS principle — Keep It Simple, Stupid."
^Officers' Call. Print Media Branch, Command Information Unit, Office, Chief of Public Affairs, HQDA. 1986.LCCN88655070.Remember the adage KISS; Keep it Simple, Soldier
^Sunday Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI) on November 4, 1973.
^Ram B. Misra (2004), "Global IT Outsourcing: Metrics for Success of All Parties",Journal of Information Technology Cases and Applications, volume 6 issue 3, page 21.Online version. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
