The project’s framework has been introduced in A Simple Framework. As the project is in bootstrap mode, the framework is currently work in progress. However, you may read about the 3 Cs to get started. We will update this page in the near future to fully reflect the framework.
Home pages of the three Cs:
Comparison of the Three Cs
The home pages of the 3 Cs contain comprehensive treatment of each topic. However, here’s a handy summary comparing the three.
NOTE: This is work in progress. Expect frequent updates to this section.
What is it?
| Complicated | Complex | Confusion |
| It has many parts or steps, but likely not as many as in a complex system. | It has many parts or steps, more than in a complicated system. | May or may not have many parts or steps. |
| Example: A Cuckoo clock | Example: Human body | Example: Poorly written instructions |
| Parts connect in ways we can predict. | Parts connect in ways we cannot predict. | Mismatch between actual connections between parts and what we were led to believe. |
| Complicated systems are generally designed by humans. | Complex systems are generally occurring in nature, or contain a mix of human and natural systems interacting with each other. | Confusing situations can occur in human created situations or naturally occurring situations. |
| Examples: Machinery, Relationships, Software, Nuclear reactors. | Examples: Economy of the United States, Human body, Global climate, Social networks. | Examples: Bad instructions, Software settings, Navigating a complex cave system. |
| Might seem difficult to handle at first, but systematic hard work can help manage the situation by understanding how the complicated system works. | It is not possible to fully understand the functioning of a complex system. Best one can do is to build mental models that help understand the system enough to learn to “dance with it”. | Might be difficult at first, but systematic hard work can help manage the situation by closing the gap between reality and our perception of it. Some confusing situations can be resolved relatively easily while some can be extremely hard to deal with. There is a wide range of confusing situations. |
| Example: Repairing a malfunctioning modern car engine. | Example: A central bank’s attempts to manage the economy. | Example: Get better instructions (easier); Medical diagnosis with conflicting expert opinions (harder) |
| A complicated system doesn’t change by itself. It requires external influence. That means, when such a system changes, we can look for the external factors that contributed to the change. | A complex system can change by itself by adapting on its own without external interference. | A confusing situation doesn’t change by itself. It requires some effort to understand the source of confusion so it can be mitigated. |
| A complicated system is a closed system so it is possible to break it into smaller pieces to fully understand it. | A complex system is an open system. It’s hard to specify where the system ends and another begins. It’s also hard to separate the system from its context. | Confusing situations often involve elements of both complicated and complex systems. They often require proper context to analyze properly. But such information may not be readily available. |
| Example: Reverse engineering a piece of machinery without any additional information or context. | Example: Economists trying to figure out how inflation took hold in an economy and how to combat it. | Example: Diagnosing a patient’s condition without access to their medical history. |
| Given some time and effort, it is possible to explain the complicated situation. | Given some time and effort, it is possible to provide an approximate model of how the complex system works. That explanation may be sufficient to help deal with the complex system. | It may be easy to experience and articulate confusion, but it’s difficult to explain away the confusing situation. If you can explain it away, it is no longer confusing! |
| Example: Training a technician to repair a new piece of machinery. | Example: Explaining the impact of interest rates on price movement of stocks. | Example: Trying to install a complex piece of software using misleading instructions. |
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