What is the Complexity Cube?
1
What is the Complexity Cube? The Complexity Cube is a simplified model of an organization and one which helps to frame and illuminate the types, interactions and impact of complexity. Consider how in any company there are products and services offered to customers, processes to support the delivery of these products and organizational assets required to support these processes. Each of these represents a dimension on the Complexity Cube and a source of complexity. Companies are therefore faced with three types of complexity - the dimensions of the Complexity Cube: • Product & Service Complexity – the variety of products and services offered to customers • Process Complexity – the number of processes, steps and handoffs needed to deliver products • Organizational Complexity – the assets, functional groups and systems to execute processes While complexity can be measured along a single dimension (e.g., the number of products offered), complexity costs do not reside along the individual dimensions - they reside on the faces of the Complexity Cube where those dimensions interact. From a cost perspective, product complexity is meaningful only with respect to the associated organizational and process- related complexity it engenders. Efforts targeted at a single dimension recognize neither the nature of complexity nor the source of its costs. Such efforts – For example, SKU rationalization efforts that do not recognize the interactions between products and the processes that deliver them will have inferior results because the sources of cost will remain untouched. Why is the Complexity Cube important? The Complexity Cube is useful as it underscores the elements central to understanding complexity: • Complexity exists along multiple dimensions (product, process and organization) • Complexity costs result from the interactions between those dimensions • Complexity costs grow geometrically It is also a useful framework to help companies align on which is the largest area of complexity in the business, i.e., which face of the cube should be addressed first. Example of how the Complexity Cube is used A consumer goods company used the information in Figure 2 to identify and prioritize the root causes of their complexity-driven issues and determined the product-process face should be addressed first. Waging War on Complexity Costs lays out specific battle strategies to leverage, depending on which face of the cube offers the largest opportunity for improvement. Spotlight Complexity Cube www.wilsonperumal.com Wilson Perumal & Company, Inc. Two Galleria Tower 13455 Noel Road, Suite 1000 Dallas, TX 75240 Wilson Perumal & Company, Ltd. 100 Pall Mall London SW1Y 5NQ, United Kingdom • Frustrated customers • Long lead times/queues • Many unprofitable products • High inventory levels • Product shortages • Product surpluses/ markdowns • Frequent changeovers/ eroded capacity • Service/quality levels below par • Poor customer service levels • Complex, bloated organization (no one sees the complete picture) • Lots of activity but not much outcome • Poor product availability • Difficulty seeing or managing trade-offs across functional boundries • Complex systems impede processes & decision making • Slow decision-making and information flow • Marketing and sales efforts diffused over products/geographies • Tangled web of IT symptoms • Sprawling physical footprint with poor asset utilization • Operations struggles to keep up with the ‘cats and dogs’ of the product line • 3 rd party distributors resist efforts to focus the product line • Efforts to consolidate network stymied by current needs Process Product Organization Product / Process Process Product Organization Process / Organization Process Product Organization Organization / Product Figure 2. Types of Complexity and Associated Symptoms Process Product Non-value add Value add Organization Figure 1. Complexity Cube Type of Complexity Symptoms Where complexity arises Where complexity hides Where complexity takes root
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The Complexity Cube is a simplified model of an organization and one which helps to frame and illuminate the types, interactions and impact of complexity. While complexity can be measured along a single dimension (e.g., the number of products offered), complexity costs do not reside along the individual dimensions - they reside on the faces of the Complexity Cube where those dimensions interact.
Transcript of What is the Complexity Cube?
What is the Complexity Cube?The Complexity Cube is a simplified model of an organization and one which helps to frame and illuminate the types, interactions and impact of complexity. Consider how in any company there are products and services offered to customers, processes to support the delivery of these products and organizational assets required to support these processes. Each of these represents a dimension on the Complexity Cube and a source of complexity.Companies are therefore faced with three types of complexity - the dimensions of the Complexity Cube:
• Product & Service Complexity – the variety of products and services offered to customers
• Process Complexity – the number of processes, steps and handoffs needed to deliver products
• Organizational Complexity – the assets, functional groups and systems to execute processes
While complexity can be measured along a single dimension (e.g., the number of products offered), complexity costs do not reside along the individual dimensions - they reside on the faces of the Complexity Cube where those dimensions interact. From a cost perspective, product complexity is meaningful only with respect to the associated organizational and process-related complexity it engenders. Efforts targeted at a single dimension recognize neither the nature of complexity nor the source of its costs. Such efforts – For example, SKU rationalization efforts that do not recognize the interactions between products and the processes that deliver them will have inferior results because the sources of cost will remain untouched.
Why is the Complexity Cube important?The Complexity Cube is useful as it underscores the elements central to understanding complexity:
• Complexityexistsalongmultipledimensions (product, process and organization)
• Complexitycostsresultfromtheinteractions between those dimensions
• Complexitycostsgrowgeometrically
It is also a useful framework to help companies align on which is the largest area of complexity in the business, i.e., which face of the cube should be addressed first.
Example of how the Complexity Cube is usedA consumer goods company used the information in Figure 2 to identify and prioritize the root causes of their complexity-driven issues and determined the product-process face should be addressed first. Waging War on Complexity Costs lays out specific battle strategies to leverage, depending on which face of the cube offers the largest opportunity for improvement.
Spotlight Complexity Cube
www.wilsonperumal.com Wilson Perumal & Company, Inc.
Two Galleria Tower 13455 Noel Road, Suite 1000 Dallas, TX 75240
Wilson Perumal & Company, Ltd.
100 Pall Mall London SW1Y 5NQ, United Kingdom
• Frustrated customers• Long lead times/queues• Many unprofitable
products• High inventory levels• Product shortages• Product surpluses/
markdowns• Frequent changeovers/
eroded capacity• Service/quality levels
below par
• Poor customer service levels
• Complex, bloated organization (no one sees the complete picture)
• Lots of activity but not much outcome
• Poor product availability• Difficulty seeing or
managing trade-offs across functional boundries
• Complex systems impede processes & decision making
• Slow decision-making and information flow
• Marketing and sales efforts diffused over products/geographies
• Tangled web of IT symptoms
• Sprawling physical footprint with poor asset utilization
• Operations struggles to keep up with the ‘cats and dogs’ of the product line
• 3rd party distributors resist efforts to focus the product line
• Efforts to consolidate network stymied by current needs
ProcessProduct
Organization
Product / Process
ProcessProduct
Organization
Process / Organization
ProcessProduct
Organization
Organization / Product
Figure 2. Types of Complexity and Associated Symptoms
ProcessProduct
Non-value add
Value add
Organization
Figure 1. Complexity Cube
Type of Complexity Symptoms
Where complexity
arises
Where complexity
hides
Where complexity takes root
![The Wrapper Top-Down Specialization and Bottom-up ... · introduces for efficient cube computation [5] and for identifying cube sets/groups on holistic measures. Complexity of the](https://static.fdocuments.in/doc/165x107/5fae3deab262aa69ad64f4f4/the-wrapper-top-down-specialization-and-bottom-up-introduces-for-efficient-cube.jpg)
