Plunger Tool by Louis Eager
Enterprise’s software are meant to empower employees yet ironically is what slows them down. A simple task — logging an issue, filing a report, generating a dashboard — often requires navigating a labyrinth of drop-down menus, sub-menus, nested dialogs, a million clicks and arcane configurations. There is also what I call the “feed the machine” syndrome as the CRM for Sales representatives, where they spend long hours inputing data about what they are going to hypothetically sell instead of actually using their time do the selling. It’s not uncommon to see highly-skilled professionals wasting hours a week just trying to get their tools to cooperate.
Ironically when users get to understand how to do one task good enough, they stick to it even if the way they do it is way more time-consuming than it should and are reluctant to change their habits. On top of fastidious features, companies mostly keeps on building up and adding more and more features to it, for the sake of Innovation or at least to try to keep with the pace of it, adding complexity to yet Frankenstein-level solutions.
As a result it not uncommon to see users leveraging 20% of the solutions their enterprise is paying for just as the humans only use a small percentage of their brains.
Where did we get caught in the realm of complexity?
Untouchable codes of old application everyone is too scared to touch to improve? Over-stretched product owner too focused on sales to keep an eye on the bold vision of their product? Ux practioners still fighting a already lost battle about the benefit of user centricity but focusing on pixel perfect ticketing task….
Complexity Has Become the Default
Enterprise systems have grown bloated under the weight of legacy design decisions, compliance requirements, and feature creep. Somewhere along the way, we started designing for edge cases instead of core use cases. The result? A Frankenstein’s monster of workflows where completing even a simple task feels like decoding an ancient ritual.
And let’s not forget the learning curve. New hires often spend weeks learning how to use internal systems — not because the task itself is difficult, but because the interface is. This isn’t just a UX problem. It’s a business problem. Every minute spent fighting with software is a minute not spent solving real problems, innovating, or engaging in meaningful work.
It’s Time to Rethink the Interface
The promise of digital tools was to make work easier, not harder. To deliver on that promise, we must move away from user interfaces that demand mastery of the system, and toward experiences that understand the user’s intent.
This is where the concept of agentic experiences (AX) comes in — a vision where the user doesn’t use software so much as converse with it. Instead of clicking through 10 screens to generate a report, imagine just saying: “Show me sales by region for Q1 vs Q2” — and it’s done. The complexity doesn’t disappear; it gets abstracted behind a layer of intelligent assistance.
True simplicity isn’t just about minimalist design or fewer clicks. As John Maeda puts it:
“Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.”
In the context of enterprise software, that means eliminating redundant steps, surfacing relevant actions in context, and prioritizing outcome over process. It’s not about dumbing things down — it’s about clarifying what matters. When technology fades into the background, what’s left is focus. Flow. Fulfillment.
Time to Completion Is the New UX Metric
In the next era of enterprise tooling, the most critical metric will be time to completion — how quickly and effortlessly a user can go from intent to outcome. Every unnecessary click, modal, or required field stands in the way of that goal.
By reducing friction, we don’t just save time — we return agency to the user. We allow employees to spend more time thinking strategically, being creative, and making an impact — instead of wrestling with the system.
Designing for Trust, Not Just Tasks
Of course, for agentic experiences to take hold, they must be trustworthy. Users need to feel confident that the system understands their intent and is acting in their best interest. That’s where thoughtful design and transparent feedback loops come into play. Designers must shift from crafting static interfaces to orchestrating dynamic interactions — guiding how agents understand context, explain their decisions, and continuously learn from users. It is fair to say that nowadays, with little but enough return of experience we have some best practice are yet put in place to build honourable conversational UI and win user’s trust.
The Future Is Simpler — and Smarter - or so I hope…
The complexity of enterprise software is not inevitable. It is a design choice — one we can undo. As intelligent agents mature and long-term memory architectures evolve, we’ll move from manual control panels to conversational copilots.
The systems we build should do the heavy lifting so humans can focus on high-leverage work. That’s the promise of simplicity — not as a surface-level aesthetic, but as a deep commitment to user empowerment.
Question is are designers and their unique solution still invited at the table to hear the possible solution they have to offer?