For the past four years I’ve used the Cynefin framework to help managers to understand the varied nature of the issues they face and to appreciate that some of these issues are better understood as complex adaptive systems. The beauty of the Cynefin framework is that it accepts the validity of rational, linear, and mechanistic […]

A story on Malcolm Gladwell is Fast Company’s cover story. He has a new book out called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. It’s all about how we make split second decisions. I hope he makes reference to Gary Klein’s work in this area.

Stephen Wolfram has made the full text of A New Kind of Science available online. Worth a look.

The Cynefin framework can be used to identify complex issues. In this situation, the term ‘complex’ does not necessarily mean that things are ‘complicated’; rather the term means that these issues are more than the sum of their parts. In other words, it means that a group’s behaviour cannot be understood or predicted by looking […]

We started the Melbourne Emergence Meetup three months ago as an experiment in developing a face to face community of practice. Our aim (apart from learning about complexity) is to discover how a community might form without online discussion forums. We meet monthly at 6pm at the Melbourne City Library. This group consists of about […]

When I joined Lotus in 1999 I was whisked off to Boston to attend pre-release training for a new software product code named ‘Raven’. Raven later became ‘Lotus Discovery Server’, and joined a new breed of products called ‘expertise-location software’. These systems trawled through an organisation’s documents and emails to create a directory of topics […]

Michael Jones asked the question on this site, “how one could train someone in Cynefin or certify that the training was successful.” Cynefin certification is gained through real projects and based on peer assessment and mentoring. Those who are certified by the Cynefin Centre will have their names posted, with their projects and techniques used, […]

I’m off to Sydney tomorrow to conduct the Cynefin certification training with Dave Snowden. This year we are running two streams: one for practitioners and the other for researchers. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone.

Eliciting stories from workers relies, in part, on asking good questions. But before people will provide their more personally significant stories they must feel comfortable and relaxed. A short ‘warm-up’ time is very conducive to genuine sharing. The ‘warm-up’ might occupy the first 10-15 minutes of a session. In most cases I begin by setting […]

“The universe is made of stories not atoms.” Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980, poet) – The Speed of Darkness