Systematic goal definition for complexity management projects

In the last years a plethora of methods has been introduced to tackle the issue of systems complexity in product development. A large variety of methods and approaches can be found in the literature either for complexity reduction, complexity control or complexity avoidance. Thereby, reduction, control and avoidance of complexity constitute the three aspects of complexity management. Furthermore, by creating transparency through complexity management decision-making in management levels is facilitated, quality of products and services is enhanced and development lead time is reduced. On the other hand, complexity management in a product development project constitutes in most enterprises a costly and resources binding issue. Therefore, it is essential for the success of a project to specifically determine which measures must be taken in order to create transparency and how complexity should be managed. This paper introduces a stepwise approach on how to tackle the issue of determining a specific goal and objective for complexity management in product development. Furthermore, according to the defined objective a combination of concrete measures and methods to tackle complexity is proposed.