{"id":3274,"date":"2022-12-04T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T09:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/"},"modified":"2022-12-04T09:29:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T09:29:00","slug":"what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/safe-scaled-agile-framework\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hs-embed-wrapper\" data-service=\"youtube\" data-responsive=\"true\" style=\"position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; height: auto; padding: 0px; max-width: 1200px; min-width: 256px; display: block; margin: auto;\">\n<div class=\"hs-embed-content-wrapper\">\n<div style=\"position: relative; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 56.25%; margin: 0px;\"><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z1h4wpyP-Qg\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: none;\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to use the definition for complexity as defined and articulated by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dave-snowden-2a93b\/\">Dave Snowden<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/thecynefin.co\/about-us\/about-cynefin-framework\/\">Cynefin<\/a> framework is a sense-making framework and one of the elements of this framework is the distinction between complex and complicated work.<\/p>\n<h2>Complicated work<\/h2>\n<p>So, complicated work \u2013 as defined by <strong>Cynefin<\/strong> \u2013 is where the work can be done by specialists.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, different specialists will produce the work differently, according to their practices, skills and knowledge, but regardless of those differences they will be able to produce the work.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, there is more than one way to produce the work, but you need a specialist.<\/p>\n<h3>Examples of complicated work<\/h3>\n<p>Taking your BMW in for a service or repair is a great example of this. As is the service or repair of a high-end Swiss watch.<\/p>\n<p>The item can be disassembled by specialists, the problem can be diagnosed, and the repair can commence, or new parts can be installed by the specialist. The decision to repair or install new parts is based on the specialist\u2019s recommendation and degree of expertise.<\/p>\n<p>Whether I take my car into a BMW dealership in Berlin or London, I am pretty much guaranteed the same outcome. A car that is in perfect working order after the specialist has worked on it.<\/p>\n<h2>Complex work<\/h2>\n<p>A complicated environment is where the cause and effect are not known in advance, and these variables are not knowable in advance.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to this, the same cause will not always result in the same effect, so even if you have knowledge and expertise in this domain, what you know or anticipate is not certain to happen given the complexity of the environment.<\/p>\n<h3>Example of complicated work<\/h3>\n<p>A football game is a great example of a complex environment with multiple unknown variables.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The rules of football are fixed and there is a referee to ensure that those elements are managed. The rules aren\u2019t going to change but interpretation by the referee might.<\/li>\n<li>The roles or positions for football players are known and people actively train to excel in those roles. A striker scores goals and a goalkeeper saves them, but this isn\u2019t a certainty.<\/li>\n<li>The playing field follows a uniform shape and pattern regardless of where you go in the world. The football pitch will never change, but absolutely anything could happen on it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If a player moves the ball up field, that might result in a goal or a penalty. It could form the basis for a devastating counterattack from opponents. It could result in a free kick.<\/p>\n<p>If a player moves the ball up field and scores a goal, it isn\u2019t certain that they will be able to repeat that feat on their next attack. In fact, they may only ever score one goal in their entire career.<\/p>\n<p>What they have achieved isn\u2019t repeatable through the application of a formula.<\/p>\n<p>The probability of success increases with practice, improvements in skill, and what is learned through coaching and player development, but nothing is certain or guaranteed.<\/p>\n<h2>How does that difference matter?<\/h2>\n<p>In the world of <strong>product development<\/strong>, we can\u2019t know the answer upfront.<\/p>\n<p>The product has never been built before and the compelling problems have never been solved before, so there is no playbook that is guaranteed to work.<\/p>\n<p>Even if we bring all the specialists in the world together, there is no guarantee that we can solve the problem or that we can build the product that meets customer needs, requirements, and desires.<\/p>\n<p>And so, we need to move through a process of experimentation, learning, evolving, and improving to make progress. We need to develop a hypothesis, run an experiment to prove or disprove that hypothesis, and use the data and evidence we gather to inform our next hypothesis.<\/p>\n<p>This is what <strong>agility<\/strong> means.<\/p>\n<p>Be transparent in what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why we are doing it.<\/p>\n<p>Make frequent inspections on the work we are performing and gather feedback from customers, stakeholders, and specialists to determine whether we are building the right thing, in the right way, at the right time.<\/p>\n<p>Use that feedback, data, and evidence to adapt what we are doing, how we are doing it, and whether it is still the most useful or valuable thing for us to be working on.<\/p>\n<p>Inspect. Adapt. Respond.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, <strong>agile<\/strong> has become the preferred methodology for negotiating complexity and uncertainty in the software engineering world.<\/p>\n<h2>About Value Glide<\/h2>\n<p>Value Glide are a <strong>SAFe<\/strong> (<strong>Scaled Agile Framework<\/strong>) consultancy, coaching practice, and training specialist who work with organizations to align business objectives with customer needs and wants.<\/p>\n<p>As deeply experienced agile coaches and practitioners, our team are invested in continuous learning through each client engagement and use the data and evidence we gather from each implementation to inform our training, coaching, and consulting services.<\/p>\n<p>In a nutshell, empirical process control or empiricism.<\/p>\n<p>If you are thinking of adopting agile within your organization and have identified SAFe as a great agile framework to adopt, implement and improve your business agility, visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/register-for-safe-quickstart-art-launch\">SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program<\/a> page or view our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/thriving-in-the-digital-age\">SAFe Consulting Services<\/a> page.<\/p>\n<p>If you have identified a need for an agile coach and SAFe coach to help your organization adopt and implement SAFe, visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/agile-coaching\">SAFe Coaching Services<\/a> page.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to know more about SAFe and how to lead SAFe, visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/safe-agile-training\">SAFE Training<\/a> page for a host of options, from Leading SAFe to a SAFe Release Train Engineer course.<\/p>\n<p>#SAFe #scaledagileframework #scalingagile #agile #agileframework #agilecoach<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n    <div class=\"xs_social_share_widget xs_share_url after_content \t\tmain_content  wslu-style-1 wslu-share-box-shaped wslu-fill-colored wslu-none wslu-share-horizontal wslu-theme-font-no wslu-main_content\">\n\n\t\t\n        <ul>\n\t\t\t        <\/ul>\n    <\/div> \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Complicated work versus Complex work? Nader Talai explains why Agile reigns supreme in complex environments within the software engineering world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Complicated work versus Complex work? Nader Talai explains why Agile reigns supreme in complex environments within the software engineering world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Value Glide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/valueglide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@valueglide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/\",\"name\":\"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-04T09:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-04T09:29:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Complicated work versus Complex work? Nader Talai explains why Agile reigns supreme in complex environments within the software engineering world.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/\",\"name\":\"Value Glide\",\"description\":\"Specialised lean Agile Consultants| Trainers | Coaches\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Value Glide\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Value-Glide-Master-Logo-with-transparent-background-1-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Value-Glide-Master-Logo-with-transparent-background-1-1.webp\",\"width\":500,\"height\":94,\"caption\":\"Value Glide\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/valueglide\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/valueglide\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/value-glide\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCACDcyE30g3ACpfL7GeKgcg\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?","description":"Complicated work versus Complex work? Nader Talai explains why Agile reigns supreme in complex environments within the software engineering world.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?","og_description":"Complicated work versus Complex work? Nader Talai explains why Agile reigns supreme in complex environments within the software engineering world.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/","og_site_name":"Value Glide","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/valueglide\/","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@valueglide","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/","name":"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-04T09:29:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-04T09:29:00+00:00","description":"Complicated work versus Complex work? Nader Talai explains why Agile reigns supreme in complex environments within the software engineering world.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/What-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter.jpg","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/blog\/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex-environments-and-why-does-that-matter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/","name":"Value Glide","description":"Specialised lean Agile Consultants| Trainers | Coaches","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#organization","name":"Value Glide","url":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Value-Glide-Master-Logo-with-transparent-background-1-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Value-Glide-Master-Logo-with-transparent-background-1-1.webp","width":500,"height":94,"caption":"Value Glide"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/valueglide\/","https:\/\/x.com\/valueglide","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/value-glide\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCACDcyE30g3ACpfL7GeKgcg"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valueglide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}