What is complexity?

The answer lies in the same reason that sophisticated tools of forecasting and business analysis, as well as elegant strategic plans, usually fail to produce dramatic breakthroughs in managing a business. They are all designed to handle the sort of complexity in which there are many variables: detail complexity. But there is a second type of comple

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The answer lies in the same reason that sophisticated tools of forecasting and business analysis, as well as elegant strategic plans, usually fail to produce dramatic breakthroughs in managing a business. They are all designed to handle the sort of complexity in which there are many variables: detail complexity. But there is a second type of comple

... See more

Complexity basically means that everything is circuitous and hard to understand. Hard to understand means that the things that lead to the things you want aren't the things you want. They're very complex. So you need to do things like work on vacuum tubes to get to computers because vacuum tubes are in the first computers, even though vacuum tubes ... See more

The complexity that we despise is the complexity that leads to difficulty. It isn't the complexity that raises problems. There is a lot of complexity in the world. The world is complex. That complexity is beautiful. I love trying to understand how things work. But that's because there's something to be learned from mastering that complexity.

A complex problem cannot be simplified. If you can simplify it, then it isn’t a complex problem. You may choose to focus energy on a key leverage point, or establish one or more enabling constraints. To make progress, you may choose to selectively ignore things, blur your vision, or think in broad strokes. These approaches will reduce cognitive loa... See more

“People think that complex is an advanced state of complicated … It’s not. A car key is simple. A car is complicated. A car in traffic is complex.” It’s the simplest explanation of complexity I’ve ever read