Initial thoughts on measuring and managing difficulty

Complexity, unpredictability, and constraints, such as the need to deliver in short timeframes (speed), can all contribute significantly to how difficult it is to deliver a task. This is especially true if these factors remain unnoticed and hence unmanaged. To manage difficulty it is therefore essential to identify and if possible measure the difficulty within the task. An assessment of this type is valuable to ensure that complexity and difficulty are managed effectively, substantially reducing the risk of failure. The range of difficulty assessments considered either provided a simple difficulty assessment and a limited range of project complexity types (four), with detailed management methodologies for each, or a detailed assessment with limited guidance or mapping to the management of complexity and difficulty within a task. This paper explores an alternative approach to try to obtain the benefits of both approaches. It proposes breaking down difficulty into intricacy, unfamiliarity, unpredictability, and constraints, the former two combining to indicate the complexity. It proposes that these difficulty aspects are considered across the delivery lines of development such as TEPIDOIL or POPIT in a 2D grid. The paper then reviews a difficulty assessment developed using this approach for breadth by comparison with contemporary papers, support to management of complexity and difficulty in a task and through user pilots. The results indicated that the tool developed resolved the issues highlighted in providing a detailed assessment that can inform a range of management decisions.