A community of over 1 million

Become a member

Home ›› Agile and Iterative Process ›› In Conversation with Dan Ward

In Conversation with Dan Ward

by Josh Tyson

1 min read

June 16, 2015

Share this post on

Save

We talk with Dan Ward—author of The Simplicity Cycle—about R2D2, design for dentistry, and why simplicity isn’t the point.

Last week, I had the chance to talk with Dan Ward, author of the new book, The Simplicity Cycle: A Field Guide to Making Things Better Without Making Them Worse from HarperCollins.

Dan spent 20 years as an acquisition officer in the US Air Force, leading high-speed, low-cost technology development programs, and The Simplicity Cycle gives designers refreshing perspective on simplicity—something often assumed to be inherently good. As he points out several times in the book: “Simplicity is not the point.” The point is balancing complexity and “goodness.” Among other things, we talk about his book, his military career, and the finer points of sci-fi interface design. (MP3)

The Simplicity Cycle diagram from Dan Ward’s book of the same name.

Agile and Iterative Process, Analytics and Tracking, Customer Experience, Design, Design Tools and Software, Emotion, Empathy, Information Design and Architecture, Input devices, Interface and Navigation Design, Mobile Applications, Mobile Technology, Personal and Professional Development, Product design, Product Releases and Redesigns, Project Management

post authorJosh Tyson

Josh Tyson
Josh Tyson is the co-author of the first bestselling book about conversational AI, Age of Invisible Machines. He is also the Director of Creative Content at OneReach.ai and co-host of both the Invisible Machines and N9K podcasts. His writing has appeared in numerous publications over the years, including Chicago Reader, Fast Company, FLAUNT, The New York Times, Observer, SLAP, Stop Smiling, Thrasher, and Westword.

Related Articles

Gamification 2.0. Beyond Points and Badges: Designing for Players, Not Metrics. Chapter 1: The Problem

Behavioral Design, Game Design, Gamification Series, Player Engagement, Product Design, Psychology and Human Behavior, User Psychology, UX Design

Discover why the points, badges, and streaks in your favorite apps aren’t really gamification.

Article by Montgomery Singman

May 12, 2026

4 min read

Designing Small Is Harder than Designing Big

Agile, Design Process, Lean UX, Product Design, User Research, UX Design

Learn why the real design challenge of agile is not speed but learning to design smaller, one valuable slice at a time.

Article by Paivi Salminen

May 7, 2026

5 min read

Consent Fatigue: Are We Designing People into Compliance?

Behavioral Design, Cognition, Dark Patterns, Ethical Design, Ethical UX Series, Privacy and Data Security, Psychology and Human Behavior, User Psychology, UX Design

Find out how clicking “Accept All” is not really consent and how ethical UX design can return user choice to users.

Article by Tushar Deshmukh

May 5, 2026

10 min read

Tell us about you. Enroll in the course.

✕