Tell apart too much information from too little connection
Separate having too many items to hold from having the items but not yet knowing how they relate.
Why it works
The 2007 introduction distinguishes horizontal complexity, the amount of classical information a task requires, counted in yes-no questions, from vertical complexity, the number of recursions (repeated layers of coordination) that the coordinating actions must perform on the elements. A task can be heavy on one and light on the other. Naming which kind you have points to a different response, which this page infers: sorting and grouping for the first, practicing the relating step for the second.
How to do it
- Count how many separate facts or pieces you are trying to keep track of.
- If the count is large and each piece is simple, the problem is horizontal: group the pieces and work through them in batches.
- If you have the pieces but cannot say how they connect, the problem is vertical: write one sentence that states the relation between two of them, and repeat for the next pair.
- Notice which kind you were working on, and change strategy if it does not help.
Evidence
The distinction is drawn in the 2007 introduction as part of the model’s account of task complexity. Its use as a guide for choosing a response is this page’s own inference from that distinction. (mechanistic)
The response suggested for each kind of complexity is an inference from the model, not something the source tests.
Sources
Common mistake
Re-reading the same material when the real gap is that the pieces are not yet related, which more reading does not fix.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for The Model of Hierarchical Complexity, Explained
- Map the sub-steps before judging the task
Before deciding a task is too hard for you, list the sub-steps it needs and note which must happen in a fixed order.
- Practice the step that combines two skills you already have
When you can do two things separately but not together, practice the single move that decides how they fit.
- Practice the simpler skill underneath a failing one
When a harder version keeps collapsing, go back and practice the basic action it is built on, by itself.
- Define what finished looks like for each step
Decide in advance what a completed step looks like, because a step is either done correctly or not done at all.
- Step up a level when one frame keeps repeating
When the same failure keeps coming back, place your current way of seeing the problem inside a larger system of ways to see it.
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