Greg Alleman at Herding Cats often discusses the complexities of complex Projects. Occasionally, he comes back to some very basic concepts that everyone doing Project work should understand.
Recently here, he outlines 5 Basics:
Where are we going?
How do we get there?
Do we have enough time, resources, and money?
What could get in our way?
How do we know our progress?
What other basic question would you ask to define the simplest view for your Project?