keeping it simple swiftly (kiss)

So we all know that simplicity is deceptively harder than it looks, but lets look at how we can help make it easier to keep it simple. (see it is hard :) )
I like to try and pare it back to the following acronym "SIMPLE":

SUGGESTIONS(and ideas) - always get suggestions and ideas from real people. They do not have to be your customers or potential customers, in fact it is often better to listen to people first and then find out what they need. This becomes the basis of your success, that you constantly engage with people to listen to the market and what they want
IMAGINATION/innovation/inspiration - think with an open mind and be aware that what turns out to be simple may not even be the original idea you started with
MOVEMENT - act, do something, now. Start small and just do small things. Those quick wins. Then you have something out there that you can improve on and change over time. And of course when you change things you interact with your audience for more suggestions and ideas.
PURPOSE - what is the problem I'm trying to solve. This becomes your key purpose, goal and outcome.
LEARN - you learn as much if not more from failure as you do from success, and remember its not a failure if you learn from it and don't repeat the same thing. You also learn from success and history. most times you are only ever reusing what someone else thought of, just refining it for a different use.
EXPERIMENT - think of it as an experiment. what do you want to try and do/prove, and then do something so that you get a result. Does the result get you to where you wanted to go.
Yes - does this still fit your goal.
No - does your goal need to change to better define the problem.

If we are honest, achieving simplicity is hard, that's why things are hard to use. Many people have tried to replicate Apple's success, but very few actually achieve it. It's as much a learned skill as it is intuition, and being in the right place at the right time. That magic that only comes along once in a million. But by using the principle SIMPLE, you at least have a greater chance of standing out in the crowd.