Match your tool to the problem simple, complicated, or complex

Not all problems are created equal. Baking from a mix is simple, sending a rover to Mars is complicated, raising a child is complex. Treat a complex problem like a recipe and you’ll suffocate it with rules. Treat a simple one like a mystery and you’ll miss the basics. Classifying the problem first lets you choose a tool that fits.

For simple tasks, checklists and forcing functions shine. They lock in the minimum steps and prevent classic misses. For complicated tasks, you still want checklists, but you also need coordination—multiple teams, timing, and interfaces. That’s where briefings, timelines, and submittals belong. For complex work, outcomes are uncertain and individual context matters. Here you need conversations at the right times, clear goals and guardrails, and feedback loops. Avoid the instinct to write a longer checklist when what you need is a better dialogue.

A high school principal tried to script every minute of classroom discussion. Teachers complied for a week, then rebelled. The script killed curiosity, the thing the school needed most. When the principal shifted to weekly learning huddles, stable targets, and a few non‑negotiables (e.g., name‑to‑need data reviews), engagement rose. The difference wasn’t effort, it was fit.

Frameworks from complexity science explain why. Complex systems are sensitive to starting conditions and evolve through interaction. Control emerges from simple rules, rapid feedback, and decentralized adjustment, not central scripts. The art is matching controls to the type of problem and being willing to switch when the ground beneath you changes.

Before you rush to write rules, label the task as simple, complicated, or complex, then pick the matching control. Use tight checklists and forcing functions for the simple stuff so it stays safe, layer in coordination plans for complicated projects, and choose short talking checklists with guardrails for complex challenges where people need room to adapt. Schedule reviews to learn and adjust, and don’t be shy about retiring controls that don’t fit. Try labeling one initiative today and tweak your approach to match.