Measure it to manage it – quantitative review of product family complexity metrics

Product variety increases complexity across product, process, and organizational domains, yet existing complexity measures offer limited guidance for design decisions. This study implements established metrics within a framework to enable consistent assessment across domains. The results reveal substantial redundancies among these metrics - with the notable exception of modularity, emphasizing its central role in complexity management. The consolidated measure set provides practitioners with a systematic basis for evaluating design strategies and managing complexity in product families.