Tesler's Law
Every product has some irreducible complexity. The question isn't whether it exists — it's who absorbs it: the user, an automated system, or your ops team.
Why PMs should care
Tax forms require a minimum amount of information. KYC flows need a minimum number of fields. Compliance screens need a minimum set of checks. This complexity doesn't go away — it just moves.
If the UI doesn't ask for it, the back end will have to chase it. If the back end doesn't handle it, the ops team will absorb it through emails, calls, and apology flows.
Every 'simplify the UX' conversation is really a 'where are we moving this complexity?' conversation. The right answer depends on who can absorb it cheapest: the user (if it's a one-time setup cost), an automated system (if the input is predictable), or ops (if the cases are rare enough that building it into the product isn't worth it).
Don't pretend the complexity disappeared. It didn't. You moved it, and it will show up in someone's workload within a quarter.
Example in product work
A team ships a 'one-click KYC' that collects the minimum regulatory fields and skips proof-of-address for domestic users. The UX team celebrates.
Three months later, the AML ops team is drowning: 12% of those users trigger enhanced due diligence checks within 90 days, and because proof-of-address wasn't collected upfront, every one of them now needs a manual email, a document upload, a review, and a 48-hour hold on their account.
The user experience for that 12% is dramatically worse than the old flow would have been, and the ops team has absorbed four new headcount worth of work. The complexity didn't disappear; it moved from the onboarding flow (where the user was ready for it) to the risk-review flow (where they weren't).
Sometimes that's still the right trade-off — but it has to be made on purpose.
What to do when you see it
- Complexity doesn't disappear when you 'simplify the UX'. It just moves somewhere else.
- If the UI doesn't ask for it, the back end will. If the back end doesn't handle it, ops will — through emails, calls, and apologies.
- The right place to put complexity depends on who can absorb it cheapest.
- Never pretend you removed complexity. You moved it — and it will show up in someone's workload within a quarter.
Sources & further reading
- The Law of Conservation of Complexity — Larry TeslerTesler's own archived page on the law, with his original formulation and related perspectives.
- Tesler's Law — Laws of UXA practical explainer on how complexity can be reduced in the product but never eliminated entirely.