How to Handle Complexity?

We are planning a Panel Debate on how to handle complexity.

Panel members:

• Tom Gilb

• Robert Smallshire

• Thor Henning Hetland

• Margunn Aanestad

• (Frank Lillehagen could not make it)

As IT organizations and their portfolios of systems get larger, they become difficult to handle. Neither human systems (organizations) or large IT architecture behave in deterministic manners and have similar properties we describe as complexity. We are faced with this every day, but there are many different strategies to comping with this.

• Should we look for ways to manage more complexity? If so how do we do that? Can tools, technologies and techniques help us in any way?

• Or on the other hand, should we try to remove complexity and look for simple solutions? Is this always possible? To what extent is complexity avoidable?

• If we have a complicated Portfolio of Legacy systems, what can we do about it?

• When we see big IT initiatives that clearly underestimate complexity, can we and should we stop them? How?

This is OSWA's contribution to the Norwegian Computing Societies Software 2014 conference.

Please let us know if you would like to take part in the panel.