Well I must say I read this IFAD report and it stumped the hell out of me! I have no idea what they are talking about, and to be honest, I don’t think they do either. The clearest recommendation is the one that you draw out in your rubric – that conventional project management approaches are not always relevant. As for the attempts at differentiating complex from complicated and managing in a way to decrease complexity, I’m afraid it leaves quite a lot to be desired. Complexity to these IFAD guys seems to mean when people don’t do what they are supposed to do and cheat and rent-seek. They are also locked into the same if-then causality that many commentators on complexity are. If you find yourself in this sort of situation, then manage in this way, and if in that kind of situation, then manage differently. How will you know? I can already see the two by two matrix a la Cynefin.

Anyway, I suppose it is interesting to see the diverse ways in which complexity is taken up.

Best
Chris