Software trends show increasing complexity driven by marketing incentives, creative satisfaction from crafting intricate solutions, legacy systems, technical debt, team dynamics, and competitive pressure to innovate. Complexity attracts attention while simplicity remains quietly effective and often prevails over time because it reliably performs needed functions. Specific frameworks and tools can contribute to bloat and deserve scrutiny for their role in making software worse. Some advocates promote returning to minimal, pragmatic approaches such as using plain HTML and simpler design principles. Playful, accessible movements and open source resources encourage developers to prioritize clarity and usefulness over spectacle.
Ukrainian developer Kyrylo Silin asks a hard question: Why do software developers love complexity?. He proceeds to call out some of the causes. Marketing trumps simplicity; programming is a creative act, and it's satisfying to craft complex solutions to problems. He notes the well-known issues of legacy systems, technical debt, team and collaboration dynamics, and the competitive pressure to innovate. He compares software to building the pyramids:
When you look at a Pyramid, only a moment later you notice your mouth is open wide in awe (close it now). Simplicity, on the other hand, doesn't hold any secrets inside. It's invisible until you realize it's genius. Complexity shouts, "Look at me!", while simplicity whispers "Did you notice?". One thing for sure, though, simplicity often wins in the long run. After the initial amazement is gone, it's the function that quietly does the job that most people need.
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