If you don't panic, if you keep your cool and apply factoring to the equation, it simplifies to become:

Now you can easily calculate the x and y values.

By direct analogy, there are two techniques to apply in complex business situations. First, use process mapping to identify high-level activities and break those activities into their component tasks. Then use data modeling to define the structure and volume of the data handled by those tasks.

Presto, you just factored business complexity and revealed its simple underlying patterns. Now you can describe the processing logic and create a system prototype to deal with the situation. Congratulations -- you earned your pay. Take the rest of the day off.

Before we finish, though, I noticed that a few of you froze up when confronted with that equation. I also know that some of you panicked recently when confronted with a complex business situation. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Go back and review the core techniques and practice using them until you feel confident that you can hack it in the Agility Corps. And before you go -- give me 50 push-ups.