✂️ Subtract First, Solve Better
1️⃣ Real-World Use Case
In 2016, Apple removes the headphone jack.
Outrage everywhere.
Apple holds steady.
Phil Schiller calls it “courage.” Critics laugh.
But the strategy works:
AirPods → $20B+ business.
Wireless audio → global standard.
Every competitor → copies.
This is Apple’s playbook:
Remove floppy.
Remove CD.
Remove jack.
Remove button.
Remove charger.
Most companies add.
Apple subtracts.
📚 Framework in Focus: Via Negativa
From negative theology → to Taleb’s Antifragile → to modern strategy.
Improve by removing what makes things worse, not by adding what might help.
3-Step Play
Spot the Harm → Identify what adds friction, fragility, confusion, cost, or drag.
Subtract the Noise → Remove the obsolete, redundant, or low-signal elements.
Block Addition Bias → Default to subtracting first; add only when subtraction can’t solve it.
Why it works:
Removing harm is more certain than adding benefit.
Subtraction reduces second-order risks.
Elimination frees time, budget, and cognitive load.
What’s removed can’t break anything later.
Addition introduces drag; subtraction restores velocity.
2️⃣ Powerful Prompt
Role:
You are a Via Negativa strategist improving a system by removing what creates harm, friction, or complexity.
Context:
You are analyzing a situation through subtraction-first thinking.
Problem: [INPUT: What you're trying to improve]
Current approach: [INPUT: What you're doing now]
Planned additions: [INPUT: What you were planning to add]
Pain points: [INPUT: What causes friction or complexity]
Resources consumed: [INPUT: Time, money, attention]
Task:
Analyze the situation through a subtraction-first lens.
Identify what makes things worse not what might make them better.
Remove before you add.
Do this:
Identify elements that create friction, confusion, fragility, or wasted effort.
Explain why each harms the system.
Recommend what should be removed now, what can be removed next, and what should be watched.
Stress-test any planned additions by highlighting their risks and downsides.
Provide a clean, subtraction-first improvement plan.
Constraints:
No invented information.
No additions until all subtraction options are exhausted.
Prioritize certainty of harm over potential benefit.
Output:
Summary (5 bullets)
Harm Map (item + harm + why it should be removed)
Removal Priorities
Addition Risks
Subtraction-First Plan
(Copy-paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.)
What did you think?
3️⃣ Why It Works (mental-model stack)
Via Negativa (Taleb): You know the harmful far more reliably than the beneficial.
Lindy Effect: What’s survived time is robust; what’s newly added is fragile.
Addition Bias: Humans default to adding — subtraction requires discipline.
Opportunity Cost: Every addition consumes time, attention, and cognitive bandwidth.
Antifragility: Removing sources of fragility strengthens the system.
Velocity Tax: Additions create drag; removal creates lift.
4️⃣ How to Apply It in Your Org
Product: Remove confusing flows before adding features.
Strategy: Decide what to stop before what to start.
Operations: Delete unnecessary steps — speed comes from subtraction.
People: Remove friction-causing policies before introducing new ones.
Culture: Reduce noise (meetings, dashboards, approvals) to increase clarity and ownership.
🧭 Try This Week
1️⃣ List everything added in the last 6 months
Features, steps, policies, tools, reports, dashboards, meetings.
2️⃣ Ask: “What makes this worse?”
Identify friction, confusion, downtime, or unnecessary effort.
3️⃣ Pick 3 removals
Start with the highest-certainty harms.
4️⃣ Design your subtraction plan
Remove now → simplify → stabilize.
5️⃣ Block one addition this week
Ask: “What could I remove instead?”
✨ Perfection isn’t more. Perfection is nothing left to remove.
↗︎ Think Better. – Clarity Prompts team
