Originally published on: 2/24/2007 1:54:41 PM
Both are cited as examples of why something can't be done. They're cited as reasons why something will be expensive. However, the objections are often aimed at the wrong one.
If you tell someone that the task they're asking to have done is "difficult", they'll go on and on about its simplicity, which only addresses *complexity*. Similarly, when you tell them it's really complex, they'll argue about how "all" that has to be done is to assemble each of the 15,000 components.
Difficulty is usually a measure of your endurance, your will, your fortitude and generally your commitment to following through on the task. These things are difficult, but simple.
Difficult tasks have us fighting our impulses, our emotional needs, our desires and our limits.
Complication is a measure of the number of steps, components and elements involved in the problem. These things are complicated, but easy.
There are things that are *both*, but it's obvious to me that when something is one or the other, the reasons for why it will take a long time or be expensive are entirely different.
And, if someone is facing a *difficult* task, any encouragement should take the form of helping with their fortitude, not the logistics.
Some of the most difficult tasks around are difficult precisely because of their complexity.
If you have a geek cubicle job, chances are your risks of being overweight are higher than if you worked in construction, for example.
When in Peace Corps I ate Snickers bars once or sometimes twice a day and stayed slim. That's because I walked 2 miles to work. Contrast that with now when I never eat Snickers bar and am constantly watching what I eat. And yet I still gain weight.
(I live in Houston, the city with the highest percentage of people who are obese--a fact I blame on our urban design among other things).
I don't mean to dismiss the importance of personal responsibility. But the question of why some people are overweight and others are not is a fascinating and complex question.
Complex tasks, on the other hand, can vary tremendously in time based on the quality of guesses made throughout the process.
Estimation is the most hateful task in software development, bar none. This distinction doesn't make the estimation much easier, but does help focus the discussion when objections arise.
But you are right, that's why complex tasks become easier with experience.
difficult: not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
complicated: difficult to analyse or understand
complex: complicated in structure; consisting of interconnected parts
Losing weight involves:
1)planning adequate exercise time
2)choosing a dwelling or work environment that favors a physically active lifestyle
3)having easy access to healthy food.
4)having the time to prepare high quality home-cooked meals.
5)having the attention span to constantly monitor your performance and progress
6)having access to information about the most efficient way to achieve the task.
7)having a job with a schedule that doesn't have too many long hours or time-pressure events that cause you to disregard your schedule
8)not having family commitments that prevent you from accomplishing the preceding 7 tasks.
If you want to mitigate the difficulty, you can add complexity, which brings in much of your list. The core task itself is simple, but extremely difficult. We've added most of those complexities you mention because the difficulty is so high when you approach it at its simplest.
We often do exactly this kind of thing by bridging some of the difficulty with complexity.
Many of those points also are adding requirements to the original task, things which would have to be clarified to determine the real complexity. Does the weight loss have to be done while eating healthy foods or just lost at all costs? Does the weight loss need to be augmented with exercise? Does it have to be done efficiently, etc.?
Thanks on the loss. That's actually just since Christmas. I lost about 50 pounds and then stabilized for 9 months or so and began losing again in December. So, I'm actually down a total of about 65 pounds total.
So, I completely understand the difficulty in losing weight. I also know how much of it just boils down to the difficulty of being hungry for 2 years and how people make it more complex than it needs to be, often to try to circumvent the difficulty.