Harnessing Complexity [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

All of this is beautifully summarized in a brief concluding chapter. I suggest you begin by reading that chapter, so you will have a better idea of why you are learning what you are learning.

This approach will also be improved by keeping in mind some problem or opportunity that you want to think about in terms of complexity science as you read the book. You'll get more out of the book that way.

But do be warned that the book starts off like a typical popular book on a technical subject by academics. There are lots of references to the work of others, lots of pages of definitions, and a very long introduction. But don't be fooled; it's just laying the groundwork for enabling you to apply a new framework to your situation. But the writing is simple and clear. The examples are varied and interesting -- drawn from computer sciences, evolutionary biology and social design. One of those areas is bound to interest you.

The framework is pretty simple: Variation (we usually encourage too little of it -- that's our old friend complacency fooling us, again); Interaction (connections cause ideas and physical changes to grow in significance -- showing the importance of overcoming the communications stall); and Selection (watch the tendency to close off experimentation too quickly or to reward the wrong behavior -- avoiding the misconception and disbelief stalls).

I found that the framework immediately worked in thinking about problems that I have been considering, like how to spread the awareness of superior practices.

In fact, the framework itself is a good example of a theoretical best practice thinking exercise. I highly commend it to you.

Unfortunately, the book will appear to be too difficult and too abstract in concepts for many. I suggest the authors plan to follow this book with one more along the lines of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Complexity Harnessers (I'm sure they'll find a better title). The point is that most readers will want more help with application, and less development of the framework.

I strongly recommend this book to those who want to understand more about complexity science. The nontechnical overview is excellent. But more importantly, I strongly recommend that you try to apply the book's principles as expressed in the conclusion to your own issues, those of your organization, and those of humanity and the other species on Earth. I think this book can be a big help in speeding human-led progress.

The book is 160 pages. The pages are small. The typeface is big. This "book" could easily be read in 2 hours by anyone with an interest in complex adaptive systems. I suppose that is good. But what you can read in the two hours is basically fluff. Sorry, but it is. Here's a rule "Arrange organization routines to generate a good balance between exploration and exploitation." Wonderful advice. How do you know what that balance is before you do the experiment? If the payoff for exploration is large, but the odds of success are low, then what? OK, I could build a simulation, right. How do I know that the simulation contains the necessary elements of the complex system and their interactions? (silence)

The book is a collection of platitudes that aren't much better than "look before you leap" and "he who hesitates is lost" -- there is always an addage that fits a scenario. The authors have eight scenarios that fit their addages. I'm sure we could find 80 that don't.

I expect more from these guys. Maybe the average manager at a company won't. But the average manager at a company won't gain any real sense of knowledge from this book, anymore than they would if they read the back cover praise: "You can't judge a book by its back cover"...if the people giving the praise all work at the same places as the authors. Can we cut the cronyism and publish some science? Or is it that Maynard Smith was right after all: complexity is fact-free science.

It's time for a new wardrobe for the emperor, because this clique has no clothes.

Unfortunately, even the authors' anectodal examples provide little insight into HOW to "harness" complexity. While this book is primarily aimed at "designers and policy makers," it may actually be most useful to consultants looking to add new buzzwords to their bs lexicon.

I would recommend Briggs and Peats's "Seven Life Lessons of Chaos" for those who are looking for a more nuts-and-bolts approach to these issues.