Complexity Questions

• Does our organization have an operational definition of complexity?
• Do we know how much complexity we have – quantitatively not anecdotally?
• Do we know how much value and cost the low-volume, nonstandard variations generate? Are they a source of profit or a sinkhole? Are they constraining our ability to be responsive?
• Do we have checks and balances to keep complexity under control? Are they set up in a segmented fashion – eliminate, accommodate, and separate? Is there an explicit feedback process or are decisions made in a one-off fashion?
• Has your company’s complexity – the number of SKUs, components, platforms, brands, and so on – grown over time? Has it grown by design or by default? Do you know which complexity is absolutely necessary to generate value?
• Do you periodically go through bursts of frenzied complexity-reduction activity without knowing exactly where to stop?
• Do you know what your drivers of complexity are? Do your product profitability estimates account for the full cost of complexity and the value of variety?
• Do your functional managers meet regularly to discuss complexity and how to manage it? Are these discussions guided by a complexity strategy?

Source:
As Simple as Possible
by Kenneth Keverian
Boston Consulting Group, July 15, 2005

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