We recommend to our clients that they not engage us on their complicated projects. Because we’d prefer to work on the complex ones.
So…what’s the difference? Complicated, complex…whatever, right?
Complicated…assembling automobiles is complicated. Thousands of moving parts, all needing to be fabricated to the right specifications, assembled in the right order, built to the right quality. It’s complicated – to be sure – but it’s dependable. More than that, it’s repeatable. Same process, same result.
But complex…that’s a different apple. Raising a child, writing a novel, developing a new law or inventing a new product – those tasks are complex. You can follow the same process, but I assure you, you will never get the same result. Just ask anyone with two or more children how similar their kids turned out!
Living systems are, by their very nature, complex systems. Unlike the parts of an automobile, which once manufactured, do not change noticeably during the “build” process, the elements of a living system are continuously changing. And driving optimal outcomes in one of those puppies…that’s complex.
So…if you are doing ‘complex’, give us a call…if you’re doing ‘complicated’…we know people who do that.