Technical vs Human Complexity
On complicated people, imposter syndrome and attribution.
Welcome to the Happy Medium newsletter, where I share inspiration and bite-sized musings on creative business each week(ish). Enjoy!
Quick thoughts
Musings on business, creativity, psychology and more.
Not all complexity is built the same
I’m currently working on a complex problem. It involves a fairly complex technical build but that is not my biggest challenge, in fact, it’s the easy part.
There are two types of complexity; technical and human.
Technical complexity is about understanding structures, rules, relationships and interactions between concrete things. It’s not to say it’s simple, quite the opposite, but these elements can all be mapped and understood (even if it takes an entire career).
For example; how does our DNA impact our likelihood of having red hair, how does insulin work in the body of someone with diabetes, how does one computer send a message to another, how do we capture data in one place and turn it into a graph?
These are all complicated but all are underpinned by a structure that could be understood, a technology that can be explained or rules that can be mapped.
On the other hand, human complexity doesn’t respect rules.
For example; if you have red hair, how can we predict whether or not you’ll choose to dye it? We understand how insulin works, but patients can struggle to manage their condition. Computers send a message flawlessly and intact, but who knows how the person on the other end will interpret it. How many dashboards have died irrelevant deaths in the inbox of an executive?
It’s the reason that no economic model predicts the future accurately. It’s the reason businesses can invest thousands in tech and have no one use it.
But it’s also the reason buildings have decorative features, how friendships are formed and why trusting your gut can be the right move.
People are unpredictable. An individual behaves differently to a group, a group behaves differently to a population.
Human complexity is not a problem to solve but it’s certainly something to actively engage with. If you have invested in a technical change, you should double that investment in the human side of change.
To make things go smoothly, establish;
Clarity - people crave concrete information. Wishy-washy, non committal explanations stress people out. Be clear, even with bad news.
Specificity - don’t drown people in information, tell them what they need to know, when they need to know (or just slightly before).
Trust - always my go-to hack for efficiency. Trust is built by consistency and competency - and it’s built long before you ask anyone to do anything new.
Support - provide tangible, accessible and specific support. Hands-on training that is relevant to their specific role or situation, details of who they can contact if they get stuck, self help resources.
People are unpredictable but human behaviour is the only thing that actually matters - don’t fight it, work with it - it’s the human side of things that will surprise you with something great.
Shout out to my BIL Karim Moummar for the inspiration. If you need an Operations guy, you should hire him.
Inspiration
Things that have inspired me this week.
Imposter Syndrome
Stella Pyles, The Creative Pragmatist
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the term ‘imposter syndrome’. On one hand I completely understand the feeling of being out of depth or not belonging but on the other hand, I’ve observed the danger of someone who has no idea what they are doing having too much responsibility and making a mess.
Both scenarios are solved by the magic words “I don’t know” which can be very hard to say. This is such a thoughtful piece on listening to what imposter syndrome is trying to tell you - and I especially loved the addition from the founder Amy Smilovic at the end.
Alternative to Pinterest
I’ve started using Cosmos over Pinterest recently. The imagery is great, links to a source and you can turn off AI content (the last two being by biggest annoyance with Pinterest).
Let me know if you try it!
Shoutout to Tasty Magazine by Nimisha Inc for this recommendation!
That’s it for this week!
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The Weekly - Take Action
Welcome to the Happy Medium newsletter, where I share inspiration and bite-sized musings on creative business each week(ish). Enjoy!
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