Law 10: Keep It Simple
Judgment: A fool admires complexity. A genius admires simplicity.
Introduction
In this industry, the new and shiny gets all the attention. Dashboards. APIs. Automations that promise to do your job for you. But here’s the truth: systems don’t run operations—people do. And people don’t need 100 features. They need one system that works.
Simplicity isn’t low-tech. It’s high-functioning.
Transgression of the Law
A large operator went all-in on a shiny new tech stack. Great Plains ERP. Custom dashboards. End-to-end product tracking. Automated everything.
On paper? Brilliant.
In practice? A disaster.
The system was too big, too complicated, too reliant on temp labor that didn’t understand what they were pushing. It required fighter pilot precision from people paid entry-level wages.
After a year?
$1.5 million in bloated inventory.
Dozens of workflows.
And no one could explain how the numbers got there—or what buttons had been pressed.
It wasn’t tech-enabled. It was tech-buried.
Observance of the Law
Across town, a much smaller operator stuck with paper. Every morning, a new inventory sheet was printed, handed off, and walked. Items were counted. Adjustments made. Everything initialed. Everything accounted for.
No automation.
No alerts.
Just discipline.
They could track variances down to the shift. And when something was off, they didn’t guess—they knew.
While the bigger player was buried under user manuals and helpdesk tickets, the smaller crew was running lean, tight, and accurate.
It wasn’t sexy. But it worked.
Interpretation
Complexity is seductive—especially when you're trying to look sophisticated. But sophistication doesn’t win in cannabis. Clarity does.
The more moving parts, the more places it can break.
The more people involved, the more chances someone doesn’t understand their role.
Simplicity is power. Not because it's basic—but because it's repeatable, teachable, and fixable.
Strong businesses aren’t built on the latest tech—they’re built on unshakable fundamentals.
Keys to Power (How to Use It):
Design for the user. If the average employee can’t explain the process, it’s too complex.
Audit your systems regularly. What’s helping? What’s just noise?
Print the damn sheet. Paper trail beats digital mess.
Master the boring stuff. That’s where the money leaks—or stacks.
Reversal (When It Might Not Apply):
If you’ve got a trained team, solid onboarding, and the right tech lead, complexity can scale your operation. But the moment the people lose the thread? The system becomes your liability.
Margin Notes:
“Complexity hides mistakes. Simplicity exposes them—and that’s how you fix them.”
“A team with fundamentals will beat a team with fancy uniforms every time.”
