When is it okay to build an orbital laser to destroy an ant-hill? Many cry "overkill" when design principles are applied to trivial problems. And for good reason: in the context of work, excessive embellishment gets us into trouble. Complexity costs us time and money. This talk explores how stepping outside of the realm of work and applying outrageous engineering practices to toy problems can deepen our understanding of the trade-offs that we make. Comically simple problems provide the perfect ground for developing actionable heuristics which can be applied to those monstrous complexities that we face in the real world.