[Isamu]

I have personally seen this within organizations. Certain leaders can appreciate the simple approach, but not others, because it doesn’t increase headcount. For other leadership types it is drama and increasing headcount that drive their careers.

Also you the developer will get scant recognition for finding the simplest solution. That’s the kind of thing that doesn’t get appreciation up the management chain (usually.) It should but it doesn’t.

The perception is not: wow this will save us millions over time by allowing us to do more with less. The perception is: so this guy did this project that turned out to be simple.

[WJW]

It's the same problem as preventing versus curing: the latter is much more expensive but much more flashy. In most companies the owners are the only ones who would care about doing things as efficiently as possible, but those are often also the most removed the line work. They get all their information filtered through middle managers who are competing with each other for their next promotion, so unspectacular news often doesn't make the cut for being passed upwards.

The main exception I've found so far is in making tools/systems for myself, since then it is easy to convince the owner about the benefits of simplicity and easy maintenance :)