‘Master Simplicity’ is one of our core guiding principles at Auror. Although this principle is widely embraced across the company, it has a profound impact on the way Auror software engineers build our products. In everything we do, and at any time throughout the software development lifecycle, we look for opportunities to avoid unnecessary complexity.

Having lived through the experience of completely rebuilding the Auror platform, we have learned that unnecessary complexity hinders our capacity to innovate and create the best product we possibly can. And innovation is the cornerstone of what we at Auror believe is necessary for us to become the leading platform for retail crime prevention.

Why do we at Auror give so much consideration to simplicity?

The first and, perhaps, obvious reason is cost. Complex systems tend to be very expensive to maintain in terms of both human and machine resources.

Secondly, we want to ensure that engineers make the best use of their time, undertaking exciting and meaningful work instead of spending endless hours untangling an overcomplicated codebase. 
Finally, simple designs tend to be more secure (less options to be exploited), easier to understand, easier to troubleshoot and result in a better user experience.

How do we master simplicity at Auror?‍

It all comes down to the fundamental approach we take to our work. At Auror, software engineers are empowered to take the time to truly understand a problem, from both a technical and a customer perspective, before writing even a single line of code.

At other organisations, an engineer might be given a list of requirements and an expected date for completion; whereas, at Auror, engineers are likely to be given fewer overall requirements upfront for that same piece of work. Instead, Auror engineers have greater flexibility to work cross-functionally with UX designers, product managers, and QAs, to research and uncover potential solutions as a team.

In practice, this means seeking discussions with:

• Product managers: to better understand the intention behind the piece of work and why it is a priority.
• Customer success: to incorporate the voice of the customer and better understand where the real value lies for end users. 
• Designers: to validate and confirm UI for possible solutions.
• QAs: to uncover hidden ‘unknowns’ that may not yet have been considered, and to validate possible solutions.
• Other engineers: to validate or uncover possible technical considerations.
  

By prioritising upfront investment in these conversations, Auror engineers can make well-informed recommendations about scope and priorities, are better prepared to make decisions about technical solutions, can address underlying technical debt, and are more likely to be able to remove blockers before they become an issue.

All of this is to say that our primary focus is not on speed, it is on simplicity and - thereby - quality.