The illusion of complexity

All organizations big and small will all come to a point in which a very complex problem will arise. These problems can range from logistical challenges to operational challenges to technological challenges. There hasn’t been one company that I have worked for that did not face an overwhelmingly complex issue. However, I feel that human nature doing what human nature does attempts to deal with complex issues in the wrong way.

It has been my experience that when faced with a problem people tend to handle complex issues in an oddly similar manor. First the human logically says, “I can’t figure this out, Freddy is pretty smart, I will get him and we can figure this out together”. This snowball effect happens until there is a room filled with bright individuals all working to solve the same complex issue. A solution is proposed then shot down, someone in the right corner of the room says something that seems smart that gets appended to by someone in the left corner of the room. After some rounds if iteration, a solution starts to come together. At the next meeting, the conversation continues and the solution gets more complex but seems to solve the problem. Until all the smart people either get tired of thinking or an agreed upon solution is arrived.

What is wrong with this? You may be thinking that this is a good way to solve the problem. Get a bunch of smart people in a room and hammer it out, it is totally logical. The problem is that the method of solution is group thought.

Group thought presents many challenges. At first it seems like a great way to solve problems but looking beyond the surface some nasty human behaviors surface. There are several truths behind a lot of the way that people act and think.

1. No one likes to be wrong

2. No one likes to get blamed

3. People tend to be adverse to changing the status quo

When you get a lot of people in the room all solving the same problem, what happens is that everyone in the room tend to see the situation in the light of the loudest speaker. And responsibility is distributed across everyone; there for no is looks dumb or gets blamed for the decision. With these facts of human nature working to distract from the complex problem, group thinking tends to not be an effective way of arriving at a solution. Not to mention they are expensive for companies to pay people to sit in a room thinking.

If getting smart people in a room causes more harm than good in solving a complex problem, what ever is a person to do? I have several steps that I recommend to solve the illusion of complexity.

1. Re-frame the problem – Take the problem and think of various ways to re-frame the problem. What this does is allows the issue to be seen from different viewpoints that could potentially shed light and lead one in the correct direction for solving this issue.

2. Look for a metaphor already in existence – For me it is very helpful to find metaphors in existence that mimic the nature of the problem. Looking for metaphors and analyzing the metaphor is a great way of helping to put the issue into another context (re-framing).

3. Draw it out -Being visual creatures, complex issues are always better when presented in a visual way. Through flow charts, graphs, scenarios, ect; one can look for relationships with in the situation that can shed light on what the heart of the issue is.

4. Dissect the problem – The illusion of complexity comes from context and size. While the first 3 steps deal with changing and manipulating the context of an issue, dissecting the problem deals with reducing the size of a complex problem. Taking a big problem and making it small is an art form in and of itself. Analyzing a problem in a smaller world then figuring out how those smaller solutions interact at the holistic level is a great exercise that can yield a great solution.

5. Simplify the solution – At first your solution might resemble a redwood tree. Large and overly complex, but you know what, it solves the problem. So now it is time to simplify your solution and make it more effective at fixing the heart of the problem.

6. Simplify the solution - Simplify again, push and push to find the most elegant solution.

7. Simplify the solution – One more reduction and your redwood should resemble a toothpick. The smallest, least complicated, and most simple solutions are always the most effective.

Complexity is an illusion, the illusion is a matter of context and size.