#52 Complexity

Here is something that is often learned the hard way during IoT projects:
The complexity does not grow linearly with the number of features, it grows much faster!

The reason is fairly obvious if you think about it. In the process of doubling the number of hardware or software components included in a solution, you are also increasing the potential interactions between components. That makes each existing component more complex.

Take, for example, a simple IoT solution in which you have a device and a device management tool. Now you want to add another device type and a commissioning app. You will have to make sure that device management can handle the new device type. And each time you want to add a further device type you will have to update both device management and the commissioning app.

In reality, there are usually much more subtle and significant interrelationships. It pays to think about them before committing to broadening your project.