Complicated or Complex

Choosing the Right Approach in Management

It was spring 2007. Among the students on the Master’s in Project Management, I seemed to be the only one genuinely curious about the topic of complexity. So I decided to attend a conference in Milan organised by the PMI, the Project Management Institute. I listened to talks by Prof.Alberto De Toni, Gen.Fernando Giancotti, Dott.Luca Comello and Prof.Walter Ginevri. From that day on, complexity became a frontier for me to explore.

When someone asks me what complexity is, I tell them what I understood that day.

Complicated: the folded sheet

The word ‘complicated’ comes from the Latin complicatus: from cum (together) and plicare (to fold). Like a folded sheet: difficult to read whilst it is closed, but once you unfold it, you can see what is written there.

A complicated system is understood by breaking it down into smaller parts and analysing each piece. It is the classic scientific approach: you look for the laws governing the phenomenon, study each element, and arrive at an answer.

If I take a folded sheet of paper and pull hard, I might tear it. But I can put the pieces back together and read what was written there again.

In a complex context, I know the rules of the game, or I can deduce them. I know in advance what will happen when I intervene. Just like in physics: every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Complex: the weave of a carpet

The word ‘complex’ comes from the Latin complexus: cum (together) and plecto (to weave). Like the threads of a carpet: the pattern only emerges when you look at the whole from a certain distance. If I separate the threads by colour, making little piles, the pattern disappears.

That is why applying the same method used for a complicated system to a complex one does not work: analysing the parts separately destroys what one was trying to understand.

If I pull a thread from the carpet, the fabric warps even in distant places, in unexpected ways. And when I remove the thread, I can no longer put it back in its place.

In a complex system, an action on a single part influences the whole, often in unpredictable ways. And I cannot rely entirely on past experience: every complex system reacts in its own way.

The mistake of confusing them

If I treat a complicated system as if it were complex, I make the work unnecessarily laborious and slow.

If, on the other hand, I treat a complex system as if it were complicated, I risk applying a solution that looks perfect on paper but doesn’t work in reality. As Giorgio Nardone would say: "Surgery is a complete success, patient deceased".

Choosing the right approach

That conference made me realise how important it is to recognise what you’re dealing with before taking action. Complexity is a much broader topic than described here, but the underlying message is simple: every situation requires the most suitable approach, especially when the context is truly complex and a purely technical interpretation isn’t enough.



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