Keep it simple, stupid.

I feel like over-complication is a big problem we face in the world today. It's true of exercise plans, tax forms, relationships, and just about everything that is engineered.

My father always used to complain about how engineers are almost never required to learn much optimization, and I'm starting to understand what he meant. We spend countless hours learning to analyze the forces acting on our designs, but very little attention is paid to whether we're doing things in the best way possible.

It is true that engineering can be as much an art as a precise science, however I feel that form should always follow function. A machine had better damned well work reliably before the designers go about embellishing it with bells and whistles. There are several successful foreign carmakers that have made themselves infamous for being evidently unconcerned with making cars that actually run, but I am not a fan of this approach.

Designing for functionality is not a difficult concept: figure out all the functions a machine absolutely must perform, and build something that will reliably knock them all out of the park. It's the execution that trips most people up. How do you build something that gets the job done right every time with minimal development costs and maximum efficiency?

Simplicity. Start with the absolute minimum functional requirements of your project, and think about how to do that with the absolute fewest number of moving parts, actuators, etc. Add complications only as they become necessary; make it work in its most simple form before making 'improvements'. Every added complication or moving part is something else that can get jammed or otherwise fail and something else requiring rigorous development. Make sure everything works well before adding to it, and start simple. Not a very difficult concept, but surprisingly few people seem to want to adhere to it.