First, it was Craigslist, next it's Zapier

Re:First, it was Craigslist, next it's Zapier by nafey on Saturday May 09, 2020 @05:44PM (#23128544)

One implication of Tesler's law appears to be that it is impossible to increase the total complexity of a system. But this feels intuitively wrong to me after looking at the source code of any ERP project.

Maybe it only comes into play if you try to decrease over all complexity of a system. After a certain point complexity can't be reduced but can only be redistributed.

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Re:First, it was Craigslist, next it's Zapier by xyzzyz on Saturday May 09, 2020 @05:57PM (#23128612)

The Tesler conservation law is like first law of thermodynamics: you cannot destroy complexity, only change its form. Your observation is more like second law of thermodynamics: the complexity of a closed system always grows with time.

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Re:First, it was Craigslist, next it's Zapier by mdonahoe on Saturday May 09, 2020 @06:39PM (#23128845)

Reminds me of a mathematical equation. You can added unnecessary complexity by adding terms to both sides, but simplification can only go so far.

Once simplified, you still have the option to move the essential operations to one side of the equation or the other.

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