Managing Complexity of Information Systems: The Value of Simplicity

Foreword

 

 

 

“Science does not think!”

In this famous and controversial statement¹, the philosopher Martin Heidegger certainly did not mean that scientists were stupid or that science was irrational. He was rather expressing the fact that science did not take time to think about itself, meaning its own goals and practices. This can inevitably lead to excesses or undesired results.

The book you are holding could be entitled “IT doesn’t think”, or “IT does not think enough!” Starting from scratch, it rethinks the goals of a “good” information system, asking what a “good” information system is, beyond choosing the “best” technology and beyond meeting deadlines or budget constraints.

The answer proposed here, “simplicity of the IS”, relies on a thorough analysis of the countless sources of complexity that tend to make the IS into a chaotic jumble, which is hard to maintain and even more difficult to improve. This situation penalizes companies striving to remain viable in a fast-moving and competitive environment.

The value of this book is not in this or that specific recommendation but rather in the global vision that justifies the recommendations that are being made.

One of the major insights of this book is its repeated emphasis on the human factor, whether from the point of view of end-users or that of IT Departments.

IT people are often considered introverts who are uninterested in anything other than the latest techno hype. Because they also generally have a hard time meeting ...