“Complexity reveals itself as the level of certainty that the project or process does what we expect it to do and that if we change something the result is what we expect it to be and it’s as simple as that!”
“We tend to perceive the consequences of complexity only when it becomes a problem when what we should be doing is paying attention to it throughout the project.”
“We have to understand the nature of complexity in software delivery so that we can understand the limitations of applying complexity science to our projects.”
“To apply complexity science to a project’s dynamics we need to be continually measuring , modelling and predicting.”
“Complexity science also tells us that our predictions and models will always be wrong; the important point is to know when they are too wrong and the rate at which they are getting more wrong!”
The software delivery industry is a highly complex industry and there are countless tools, techniques, methods and management philosophies being promoted by various parties. Judgements and decisions making are key to the successful delivery of software and this requires a clear and objective understanding of the realities involved including: understanding the psyche of individuals, the part that statistics plays when considering the characteristics of organisations and the part that complexity plays when considering the dynamics of organisations.
Reality Matters 