Complexity

 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
                                       - Lao Tzu

 

That obsessively quoted phrase from one of history's most insightful teachers says it all. A single step becomes two steps then three and then steps, which then turn into a mile and two miles and three miles, which then turn into a hundred miles and so on.

I wonder what Michelangelo was thinking on facing a blank canvas, or a block of marble. Where to place that first chisel, or brushstroke. Or what Stephen King was thinking as he sat down to write the very first word. How on earth do we get to three hundred pages?

TIME

Time is an ingredient in any, and every, thing we do. While thinking is OK, doing is better. Leonardo Da Vinci is quoted as having said, I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. Often, however, the challenge of the blank page and the overwhelming complexity causes inaction. 

And part of this is because we are unable to see clearly the finished product, the end. Even if we write it down, it's still foggy until we start working on it. And then we run into trouble very quickly. Not because we did not plan, but inevitably because we cannot plan every detail.

ANALYSIS PARALYSIS

Sometimes it's easier to not do anything than start because of the overwhelming complexity staring at us. Some of the fear due to lack of knowledge, the fear that I will fail, or I will break it, or I won't get to the finish line - even if I don't know where this finish line is.

Analysis paralysis is like the deer caught in the headlights. It knows it must move, but it's blinded with fear. And sometimes it's lucky, many times not.

THREE STEPS FORWARDS, TWO STEPS BACK

Most things proceed this way. You start something, and realize that it's going in the wrong direction, so you backtrack. And you then move tentatively forward again. And by moving forwards and backwards, you soon get a sense of accomplishment. It's a good feeling that you're still not standing at the start. You've taken ten steps, but you've only moved two steps forward. But this is certainly better than being stuck at the start, thinking of the way to get to the tenth step, by taking only ten steps. At this rate, we will need to take thirty steps, just to get to ten!

FIRST PRINCIPLES

I remember my math teacher teaching us to start solving problems from first principles. We understand the problem, we need to come up with a method to solve the problem, but we keep going back to the solution. Forget the solution, think of the roadmap. The tried and tested methodology that mathematicians use to take huge problems and using a few tools build complex worlds. It's true that you can build a two storey cabin with just a saw, hammer and nails. Not even electric ones. And in that case, it might help to have a plan so that you don't have to pull down entire walls because you forgot that you needed thicker ones to support the second floor.

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
                        -- Isaac Newton

As a species we've come a long way. And we did this step by step, building on the successes of the past, and also learning from its mistakes.

BUILDING

It's not enough to look at the brick in one's hands and not do anything with it. You must lay it down and look for another brick to place on it. And continue to do this to build up the wall. Even the toughest rocks cannot stand the constant weathering of the elements. It's agreed that the Grand Canyon was partially as a result of the flow of the Colorado river cutting through the rock over 35 million years. That's a really long project.

The pyramids in Egypt are truly majestic works of construction. They took about 20,000 laborers about 20 years to build one. In this case, the complexity was one of getting the huge slabs of rock up to build each layer. I tend to think that as each ruler built their pyramid, probably starting with pyramids that were very small, they learned to become bigger and grander. Each successive ruler standing on the shoulder of the one that came before.

MANAGING COMPLEXITY

Taking small steps, and creating building blocks that can be managed in the mind. It's far easier to think of a single item, like a brick, than a complex structure like a hospital, or an airport. So too, writing a sentence is manageable, but thinking of the novel may be daunting.

Everything takes time. And while thinking time is important, it's not as important as doing time. It's the doing time that makes the structure, the book, the speech, the software, the dress, the food. And while the thinking time may make the product somewhat better, there's a fine line between planning and procrastination. Incidentally they look uncannily similar when viewed from the outside.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply - said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Nike's Just Do It slogan is a densely philosophical statement packed with a lot of wisdom. It defines the line where you stop thinking and simply Go For It. With fear and trepidation that you may have to turn back, but more likely that you'll end up somewhere else where you can move even further forward.

Complexity is managed by focusing on the immediate thing that you can wrap your mind around, with the confidence that the rest will take care of itself. The confidence that it will all work out in the end, and the brick will disappear in the grandeur of the building.