Highlights
if one can fully describe a system in four sentences this is a simple system but if one needs a thousand pages to describe it the system is complex
what really bothers most of us is a fact that part of the data that typifies our system does not relate just to one component of the system but those relationships between two or more components of the system in other words the things that makes our system difficult to manage is that what is done in one place has ramification other places the cause and effect relationships turn our systems into almost a maze
but that fact is the key that provides the solution
examine a given system and ask yourself what is a minimum number of points one has to impact in order to impact the whole system if the answer is 10 points then this is a difficult system to manage it has too many degrees of freedom it’s like a tempting to manage a bunch of wild cats but if the answer is just one point and this system has only one degree of freedom it is an easy system to manage
the more interdependence is existing between the various components of the system the less degrees of freedom the system has
considering the enormous complexity of your system it follows that there must be only very few elements that govern the entire system in other words the more complex system is the more profound is its inherent simplicity.