Complexity Perception - model development and analysis of two technical platform projects in the mobile phones industry

Journal article, 2004

This paper shows that underlying parameters of perceived complexity in the development of a technical platform in the mobile telecommunications industry can be presented in a model consisting of four parameters, divided on three levels in the projects. The parameters are the number of interrelated parts, type of dependency among these parts, uncertainty in goals, and uncertainty in methods. These complexity parameters can further be found on the different levels: external organization, internal organization, and product. The study also shows that these underlying parameters come into play differently in different settings; e.g. how these parameters are perceived is highly dependent on the specific situation. The settings analyzed in this paper concern the two technical platform projects of mobile phones at Ericsson Communication Systems (ECS), Sweden.