The difference between simple and easy
And the more important difference between complex and complicated
You've probably been using "simple" and "easy" as synonyms your entire life - but that's incorrect! Let me explain.
"Whoa! What's simple isn't always easy"
I thought to myself as I watched a callisthenics YouTuber pull up his body weight seemingly effortlessly.
I tried to find articles that talk about this difference but couldn't find anything useful, so I made this 2x2 matrix.
What's actually interesting is the difference between their opposites Complex and Complicated!
👉 Complex is used to refer to the level of components in a system.
If a problem is complex, it means that it has many components. Complexity does not always imply difficulty.
If you've tried solving a Rubik's cube in the past, you'll appreciate what complexity is.
👉 Complicated refers to a high level of difficulty.
If a problem is complicated, there might be or might not be many parts but it will certainly take a lot of hard work to solve.
Both complex and complicated problems require different approaches-
Complex problems are solved by breaking the problem into repeatable simple steps and following them -
Setting up a facebook marketing campaign is fairly complex but you can follow along a video on youtube and you'll be doing it yourself in no time.
Complicated problems require effort -
You can watch a video on doing a pullup but it requires consistent effort and practice to be able to do it yourself.
My favourite corner of the matrix is the "Complexicated" one.
Problems here are difficult to understand - there's a lot to unpack, no easy algorithmic approach to solve them AND they require practice and skill to crack.
Phew!
Innovation is a complexicated problem.
Blockchain disruption is a complexicated problem.
So before you try to solve a problem you're facing, try to box it.
It may be easier than it seems :)
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If you're looking for help with "complexicated" problems at work, don't hesitate to write to us at abhimanyu@launchspace.in. That's exactly the kind of problems we solve for a living, at Launchspace.
#innovation #complexity #work