Simplicity is expensive upfront and cheap afterward.

Making something simple takes longer than leaving it complicated. The understanding, the editing, the difficult calls about what to remove are all front-loaded, and the payoff arrives afterward as reduced friction for everyone who touches it. That timing is why simplicity keeps losing to deadlines. The cost is visible and the savings are not.

When something will be used repeatedly, spend the extra time simplifying it before it goes into circulation. Count the future uses to justify the hours. The investment is easier to defend when the multiplication is written down.