Complicating matters: a little complexity could be what your business needs to stay alive - Digital Planet designs Web sites but constantly monitors and uses the latest technologies - Management: Leading Edge

Entrepreneur, Sept, 1996 by Mark Henricks

"It enables you to look at things you wouldn't otherwise think of," Sonesh-Kedar says. "It enables you to challenge some of the basic assumptions available today and talk about things that might happen in the future."

Complicators also use a technique called "galumphing" to inject an element of randomness. One way to galumph might be to open a dictionary, point blindly to a word, and then try to figure out how that word relates to your particular problem or opportunity, Geirland says. You might also give an employee a playful assignment to, for instance, describe a person who has never seen or heard of your product before. The basic idea is to generate novel combinations to freshen your viewpoint.

However you do it, says Geirland, "It's important to introduce a certain amount of that breaking-out-of-the-mold, getting-out-of-the-rut [attitude]. We are creatures of habit, and it's easy to fall into a rut."

* RISKS AND LIMITS

Complicating yourself may be a good idea when preparing strategic plans, deciding product development directions or studying other long-term issues, according to Sonesh-Kedar. She cautions, however, that complicating yourself won't necessarily make you a more accurate forecaster. "It's not so much [a tool] for predicting the future as for having some plans or strategies to be ready for it when it comes," she says.

Nor is it always a good idea to add complication. While it might be wise to inject complexity into a strategic planning session, for instance, it would probably be a bad idea to complicate a job such as taking customer orders over the phone.

"Where complicating doesn't help you is when you're dealing with routine things, where you want to have a high level of efficiency," says Geirland. "[In these cases,] when you introduce a complication, you're really just introducing noise into the system. "

You can also get too much of a good thing. The primary risk is incorporating so much random information that it takes too long to reach a decision. Ultimately, "analysis paralysis" induced by an overeager complicator may mean no action is ever taken.

The hard part is knowing when enough is enough. One way to deal with this possibility is to put an arbitrary limit on the amount of complication you will add, such as saying you will only look at five alternative scenarios. "In all things," notes Geirland, "there has to be a balance."

Of course, one entrepreneur's complexity is another's simplicity. At Digital Planet, the emphasis will always be on adding complexity to the decision-making process--at least, as long as the world it competes in reflects the same level of complexity.

"In this industry, we don't really have a choice," says Greer. "There are a thousand factors that can affect our ability to create a product. If we don't match that, we're doomed to fail."