This quote by Jamshid Gharajedaghi is one of the most powerful and clearly articulated statements of an idea that is at the core of #tameflow.
Let's read it again:
>> Natural science has discovered "chaos." Social science has encountered "complexity." But chaos and complexity are not characteristics of our new reality; they are features of our perceptions and understanding.
>> We see the world as increasingly more complex and chaotic because we use inadequate concepts to explain it. When we understand something, we no longer see it as chaotic or complex.
It is particularly relevant in this world of Agilists that see complexity everywhere, and need necessarily to proceed with "empiricism" (I use quotes because it is not real, necessary, but artificial empiricism) like being blind fold in a coal cellar on a new moon's night.
Let's break down the quote, which - mind you - comes from one of the greatest systems thinker ever (together with Ackoff):
>> ... chaos and complexity are not characteristics of [...] reality.
Got it? Chaos and complexity are not real!
>> ... they are features of our perceptions and understanding.
Chaos and complexity are what we perceive and believe. They are created and exist in our minds. We are causing them.
>> ... we use inadequate concepts to explain it.
That's the crux of the matter. Our mental models are giving us a distorted interpretation of reality.
>> When we understand something, we no longer see it as chaotic or complex.
And this is the hint of the direction of a solution to manage chaos and complexity.
The solution is to act on your mind, on your understanding.
No amount of scaffolding reality with frameworks will allow you to manage the chaos and complexity, it is only by upgrading our thinking that we will make progress.
You need better mental models to appreciate the Inherent Simplicity that governs all of human created social systems, like companies.
One of my favorite examples is dependency management in #SAFe, the Scaled Agile Framework, with all the cob web of red threads representing the combinatoric explosion of a dependency graph. No wonder they need days of planning & months of execution to produce anything at all.
With #tameflow's focus on the Constraint, that incredibly complex dependency graph implodes into a single, simple, linear queue in front of the Constraint.
What's the difference in the two approaches?
That in TameFlow we have a clear awareness of the impact of the presence of the Constraint and the Mental Models to manage around the Constraint. What appeared to be a rat's nest of dependencies becomes just one straight line.
And there are many other examples where this simplification through upgrading of the Mental Models happens all the time in the TameFlow Approach.
Indeed...
>> When we understand something, we no longer see it as chaotic or complex.
Strive to understand, instead of deliberately choosing to blindfold yourself and continue poking around to make some sense of reality.
THINK!
More of this at circle.tameflow.com
Steve Tendon
@tendon
I help executives achieve superior financial, operational, organizational and human performance by adopting the power of Flow@Scale™.
