Every application has inherent complexity that cannot be removed, only shifted.
Tesler's insight from Xerox PARC: complexity moves between the user and the developer but does not vanish. Every simplification a user enjoys was absorbed by someone building it.
In practice
- A payroll system with one button for the user has a rules engine of four hundred conditions maintained by two people.
- A restaurant with a single-page menu has a prep list that starts at six in the morning.