Imagine this. You are one hundred and ten years old. A time machine has just been invented, probably by Apple. The inventor tells you that you will be transported back in time. When you arrive you realise that it is today.

You with the wisdom of having lived and experienced life have the opportunity to speak to your younger self. You have just 60 seconds.

What do you say? What advice do you give yourself?

Have a curious day.

The UK Government announced plans this week to make the Civil Service more efficient. It’s all very simple, according to Minister Francis Maude. The Civil Service will become “Digital by default”. As if that wasn’t enough they are going to engage in “Rigorous daily collective self-evaluation”, “lean continuing improvement” and follow a “Demanding methodology in the delivery landscape”.

I think this means that they are going online, they are going to talk to each other and try to do their jobs better. Though heaven knows what they will say when they try to explain what job they are supposed to be doing.

Contrast this with Apple insider ken Segall who says that CEO Steve Jobs would go berserk if his team brought something to him that had not been boiled down to its absolute level of simplicity. Thank goodness our Civil Servants didn’t work at Apple. We may have ended up with a “Digital sonic portable platform with self-select functionality for integration in an advanced entertainment landscape”. Personally I think iPod sounds better.

Thought for the day: Boil everything down to its absolute level of simplicity.

Insanely Simple: The Obsession that Drives Apple’s Success, Ken Segall