First of all, thank you, Becca, for taking the time to read, we truly appreciate this. Below we have tried to answer your doubts:

Three click rule is not mandatory and by far does not set the thumb rule. However, one of the main design implications of the 3-click rule is that navigation menus should not require users to click through multiple levels in order to find the information they care about. While this idea is reasonable, pursuing it relentlessly often requires designers to prioritize broad IAs (information architectures) over deep IAs.

Definitely, the complexity of tasks would define the clicks but the idea of prioritization and ensuring that users find the core action within the shortest possible timeframe remains.

Simplification, oversimplification, minimalism, cutting the clutter.. all these words remain open to ones own interpretation. The idea is to reach the ideal state. As Dieter Rams say ‘Good design is invisible’.

Thanks again.