On the Perception of Complexity and Its Implications

This chapter explores the burden of complexity by considering the possibility that the system design community has been struggling with the consequences of a deep-rooted assumption concerning our core definition of a system.Recent research into individual and organizational mindsets suggests that “big assumptions” represent beliefs in our mental models of the world that are viewed as accurate representations of the way things are and are taken for granted as true. The intent of this chapter is to offer an alternative treatment of complexity in system design by extracting our community’s viewpoint—the mental construction we perceive the world through—such that we are able to look at it less subjectively. To do so, the chapter frames a normative comparative study to assess the ability of any viewpoint to successfully facilitate system design. The assurance of the design process and the correctness and completeness of the solution to resolve the need form the basis of the evaluation criteria. The study compares two viewpoints against the evaluation criteria: a prevailing viewpoint derived from our deep-rooted assumption, and a viewpoint built around an alternative view of systems. The results show that the prevailing viewpoint becomes increasingly unsatisfactory as systems exceed the capability and capacity of the practitioner to comprehend, and therefore brings into question the validity of our deep-rooted assumption for the design of complex systems. The analysis further suggests that the system design community has been actively compensating for the insufficiency of its models, which can create a perception of complexity as significant to design. On the other hand, the alternative viewpoint demonstrates theoretical agreement with the evaluation criteria regardless of scale and scope and shows the potential for systematic solution derivation, suggesting that the alternate definition of systems might form a more suitable basis for the design of “complex” systems. The seemingly insurmountable problems we experience with the burden of “complexity” may have a path to resolution, but only if we choose to accept the implications that our struggles may be self-imposed.