On software development projects people have to estimate the effort involved. In doing so, one of the things analysts are asked to consider is the complexity of a process, but it surprises me how often analysts confuse complexity with difficulty.
The two concepts are mutually exclusive. A process can be simple, but difficult to implement. Another process could be complex, but simple to implement. Yet another, simple and easy or complex and difficult.
Complexity is a measure of how many possible paths there are through a process. The terms of reference will be specific to each organisation, but the least complex process is one that has a single path (regardless of the number of steps along that path). The measure of complexity increases with the number of possible paths and possible outcomes. Based on whatever measurement applies within their organisation, it is the Business Analyst who evaluates the complexity of a process.
Difficulty, on the other hand, is a measure of how hard it is to implement a process. Difficulty often arises because one or more steps in a process require one system to interface with another. As such, difficulty is for the Technical Architect to measure, not the Business Analyst.
However, if you are a Pega Business Architect documenting specifications for Pega implementations, you should note that the Specification template has an attribute of ‘Complexity’ which is used to mean ‘estimated level of effort’. The Business Architect Essentials Student Guide for Pega 7.2 says on page 155:
‘Select the estimated level of effort ( high, medium, or low) to implement the specification. This helps you plan your project where you can focus on high complexity tasks earlier on in development since they will likely take more time to create.’
Since there isn’t a field in the Specification template for ‘level of effort’, the implication here is that ‘Complexity’ in Pega means level of effort (i.e., difficulty). Any Pega Lead Systems Architect I have discussed this with has confirmed the ‘Complexity’ field in the Pega Specification template is used to indicate technical difficulty, rather than complexity.
Kind regards.
Declan Chellar
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