Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 15 conference talks
People recommend this talk for clarifying the difference between simple and easy and for changing how they think about software design. One critic says readers often wrongly treat simple and easy as the same idea.
People recommend this talk for clarifying the difference between simple and easy and for changing how they think about software design. One critic says readers often wrongly treat simple and easy as the same idea.
23 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 22
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 96%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 22 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 22 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Clarifies simple versus easy
“systems become better when we aim for simplicity (few intertwined parts) rather than ease”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity” “I think Rich Hickey's talk about simple is great for defining these terms (literally).”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity” “I really like how Rich Hickey’s “Simple Made Easy” clarifies simplicity here”
Comment from 1 Apr 2026 on Hacker News - Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Solid and Clean Code never felt solid or clean to me”
Changed how people think about software
“Few things, concepts and ideas have changed as much of my programming mind as Hickey's talk”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Simple Is Not Small” “One of the most impactful things in my career was watching Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “AI is making junior devs useless” “had a huge impact on the way I think about writing software”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Clojure: The Documentary, official trailer [video]” Classic talk that still holds up
“Classic talk that still influences my design decisions today.”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Building Gin: Simple over Easy” “the first half is the philosophical part and a classic”
Comment from 9 May 2026 in “Mythical Man Month” “really interesting and insightful and I still love it”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Clojure: The Documentary, official trailer [video]” - Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Ease Comes After”
Named a personal favorite
“I'm a fan of Clojure author Rich Hickey's "Simple Made Easy" talk”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Lisp: Notes on its Past and Future (1980)” “Simple Made Easy is one of my favorites”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: What's the best talk you've watched?” “This is just my favorite talk”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “"Simple Made Easy" – Rich Hickey (2011) [video]”
Other conference talks people recommend
The four most recommended other conference talks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Made Easy by Rich HickeyThis page | 22 | 1 | 96% | 9 | — | Approved |
| The Birth and Death of JavaScript by Gary Bernhardt | 11 | 2 | 85% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs Video Lectures | 11 | 1 | 92% | 3 | — | — |
| Wat by Gary Bernhardt | 9 | 1 | 90% | 5 | — | — |
| Porting Linux to Apple Silicon by Asahi Linux | 8 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“More entanglement is more complicated.”
“which I very much do agree with”
“Few things, concepts and ideas have changed as much of my programming mind as Hickey's talk”
“makes the point more clearly and precisely”
“I've never forgotten this either”
“Classic talk that still influences my design decisions today.”
“in the conference "simple made easy" Rich Hickey defines what is simple”
“For more on this see "Simple Made Easy" by Rich Hickey.”
“there was a great line about full test coverage”
“the first half is the philosophical part and a classic”
“Then I followed up with "Easy made Simple" and "Hammock Driven Development"”
“The fundamental mistake of Simple Made Easy was how many people interpreted them as orthogonal”
“I really like how Rich Hickey’s “Simple Made Easy” clarifies simplicity here”
“really interesting and insightful and I still love it”
“had a huge impact on the way I think about writing software”
“systems become better when we aim for simplicity (few intertwined parts) rather than ease”
“I think Rich Hickey's talk about simple is great for defining these terms (literally).”
“One of the most impactful things in my career was watching Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey”
“Simple Made Easy is one of my favorites”
“This is just my favorite talk”
“you're fortunate to have the opportunity to watch "Simple Made Easy" for the first time”
“I'd recommend Rich Hickey's talk Simple made Easy.”
“I'm a fan of Clojure author Rich Hickey's "Simple Made Easy" talk”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.