The Growing Business Problem of Dynamic Complexity

Abstract

For centuries dynamic complexity has existed but been largely unknown and sometimes ignored by business because its effects have been insignificant or hidden. When systems were relatively simple, people had sufficient experience to identify and time to fix any problems that occurred as a result of dynamic complexity without giving the phenomena a name. In the digital age, the problem of dynamic complexity has grown to a point that can no longer be ignored by organizations seeking to maintain competitive advantage. With increasing frequency businesses today are discovering that their performance levels are not meeting expectations. In most cases these unexplainable deficiencies are caused by dynamic complexity, which lies hidden like a cancer until the symptoms reveal themselves—often when it is too late to avoid negative impacts on business outcomes. Previous methods of prediction and risk management are increasingly not adequate to deal with problems caused by dynamic complexity. This chapter introduces the growing business problem of dynamic complexity and presents a path to a practical solution.

He, who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of the busiest life.

—Victor Hugo