Key posts?

July 17, 2023

“ The interpretation of our reality through patterns not our own, serves only to make us ever more unknown, ever less free, ever more solitary. ”

– Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

 

I’ve had a few requests recently for further reading post a presentation and I put this together – but I know it’s not complete. I’d welcome any other suggestions (with links) to what you consider key blog posts.  I know there are collections of videos and also third-party material out there so please let me know.   I may also add a link to somewhere with standard images – thinking about that


The material

The modulator video of self-assembling wires can be found here

Snowden recently wrote a blog post about how best to explain complexity theory in terms of its consequences and that post also has a useful third-party summary of work on Rewilding Leadership. That followed a post on how to manage for emergence. Leadership was also the theme of three blog posts in January 2023 the last of which can be found here.

A summary post on sense-making in strategy with a series of links to work on knowledge management, cultural mapping, scaffolding etc. is a good starting point.

In general, the various Christmas blog series often explore subjects in more detail and in 2022 the opening post summarised all the historical ones with links.

All three frameworks, with a link to a Keynote on the subject, can be found here and a popular YouTube video can be found here as the TedX is here

Material on complexity theory can be found – for a base introduction we recommend Axelrod and Cohen’s Harnessing Complexity although that doesn’t deal with complexity in human systems, the field of anthro-complexity, other than indirectly. One of the Christmas series directly addressed the differences

Cynefin was last updated in two posts (which link to historical material) on St David’s Day 2022 and from 2023 that slot was used to give an update on Estuarine Mapping. Differences with the Stacy Matrix are summarised here.

A key post on the context for SenseMaker® namely Big, think and rich (the data) was published in 2020. Other material is on the website and selecting Nina Abrahams as the author will give access to many. This book also discusses SenseMaker® and there are cases in the EU Field Guide which is also the best source for a summary of exaptation. There are also two posts on narrative-enhanced practice and this how to guide from Beth Smith.

Entangled trios is under ongoing development but the original posts start here and a justification of silos compliments that as does this post on abduction and this on potential developments into distributed decision making

A challenge to the mindset and mental models idea can be found in two posts starting here. There are also many posts on organisational change but this one is a good starting point as is a three-part series. Line de fuite which starts here.

ASHEN, originally developed in knowledge management now has many more uses and a three-part series starting here gives that wider context

The core reference to inattention blindness is Drew, Vo & Wolfe Psychol Sci. Sep 2013; 24(9): 1848–1853 but there is a wealth of material relating to inattention blindness and this article from the Smithsonian Magazine has material. The book The Invisible Gorilla is a good read and a convincing counter to Gladwell’s Blink.


The banner picture was taken on a walk on Pewsey Downs, the opening quote I just like ….

Recent Posts

About the Cynefin Company

The Cynefin Company (formerly known as Cognitive Edge) was founded in 2005 by Dave Snowden. We believe in praxis and focus on building methods, tools and capability that apply the wisdom from Complex Adaptive Systems theory and other scientific disciplines in social systems. We are the world leader in developing management approaches (in society, government and industry) that empower organisations to absorb uncertainty, detect weak signals to enable sense-making in complex systems, act on the rich data, create resilience and, ultimately, thrive in a complex world.
ABOUT USSUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Cognitive Edge Ltd. & Cognitive Edge Pte. trading as The Cynefin Company and The Cynefin Centre.

© COPYRIGHT 2025

< Prev
Next >
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram