Complexity Welcome to Complexity
Complexity maps a process that has many steps: who does what, what each step needs, and where its result goes next. You describe the steps. The map draws itself.
What Complexity is for
Section titled “What Complexity is for”Most diagram tools make you draw. You place boxes, line them up, and move them again each time the process changes. Complexity works the other way round. You say what each step needs and what it hands on, and Complexity places every card and every line for you. The map stays tidy however large it grows.
Complexity also shows what you do not know yet. A step that needs something nobody hands it, or makes something nobody takes, shows an open end. Complexity lists every open end, so the gaps in a process are as plain as its known parts.
People use it to map:
- business processes, such as bringing in a new client or approving an invoice;
- customer journeys, with what goes well and what goes wrong at each stage;
- information architecture, such as the pages of a site and the links between them;
- anything else made of things and the links between them.
How to read this book
Section titled “How to read this book”The chapters build on each other, so read them in order the first time.
- Your first map makes a small map of making a cup of tea.
- Anatomy of the map shows the rest of what a map can hold: lanes, conditions, groups, tags and stage notes.
- Dealing with complexity is about finding your way on a large map.
- Styling the map is about colours, icons and the settings that make a map easier to read.
- Sharing maps with others is about getting feedback, working together, and export.
- Shortcuts and tips collects the keys and small habits that save time.
The Glossary explains every term, and the Index helps you find a topic.
Names of buttons, menus and fields are in bold, as they read on the screen.
What you need
Section titled “What you need”Complexity runs in a web browser on a computer or a tablet. You can install it as an app from your browser, for more room on the screen. On a phone you can open a map to read it and comment on it, but not to edit it.
Complexity speaks nine languages. This manual is in English.