The question of purpose is an important one for anyone trying to apply complexity thinking to any human system or endeavour. A complex system is not causal but dispositional, so we can't define an end state per se. That can give rise to the charge that advocates of the approach are purposeless which, if true, […]
After due consideration, I’ve settled on sidecasting over the alternatives. It has an edge to it and was the favourite of the commentator with the most experience of foresight work. In my last post, I promised to summarise the techniques I listed so that people had a reference and I plan that today. That will […]
A longer than normal title to this post (from Martin Luther King) should not be seen as a modern-day version of Plato’s cave. In this latest post of sidecasting, I want to pick up on the final three categories from the table I published yesterday. I’m still calling it sidecasting by the way, although the […]
Someone suggested widecasting as an alternative to sidecasting yesterday so I am trying it out in the title here. Not sure myself 'side' has a wicked element to it that 'wide' does not provide but nothing ventured nothing gained as they say. Yesterday I referenced Dreborg's 1996 article on backcasting and its use of […]
In this second of three posts on exaptation I am going to continue to build on reporting discussions and ideas that came out of the Durham conference. In the final post I’ll pick up on what I presented (and what I wish I had thought of presenting at the time) on managed serendipity. Probably the […]
I gave an opening address last Friday at ScanAgile 2012 on the general subject of the the 3Cs of complexity. I should say that I did not determine the title, it was gifted to me by the following speaker Joseph Pelrine. He had the handicap of presenting Cynefin with me in the audience so […]
For some years now I been distinguishing systems thinking from complexity thinking in a variety of ways. Technically I suppose I mean systems dynamics, but the two are largely conflated these days. I should also make it clear that, unlike Stacy in his early books, I am not hostile to systems thinking, but I do […]
Now it may not be immediately obvious, but this picture contains one of the most dangerous of predators a Grizzly Bear. Its not something you would want to stumble over by mistake. Its a good illustration of one way by which we may miss the obvious namely camouflage. The data is available to us, but […]
I enjoy the responsibility of summary type presentations. You have to sit through a whole day of speeches that vary from the mundane to the brilliant and rapidly evolve a set of material that will allow you to go beyond a simple he said this, she said that type of approach. Now after two days […]
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.
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