A personal post on coming to terms with the 'C' word, luck and the nature of public health care. thecynefin.co/the-idiots-g...
The Idiot's Guide to an Early Diagnosis - The Cynefin Co
“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes
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Another in the Virpi series, this time in response to a social media challenge, the difference between starting journeys and seeking destinations thecynefin.co/the-next-rig...
The next right thing(s) - The Cynefin Co
Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.Traveller, there is no path; the path is made by walking. Antonio Machado So there are goals in a
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A new post in the 'inspired by Virpi' series, on black swans, dragon kings & perdurability encompassing but not defined by anti-fragility. Apologies for the delay in publishing; life has been disrupted by health issues, which should be resolved by surgery mid-August. thecynefin.co/we-dont-need...
We don't need a better bestiary - The Cynefin Co
"The river is within us, the sea is all about us." T. S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages An estuary, tended rather than defended, salt and fresh water and storm
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Second post in the Virpi-inspired series (although she is not responsible for my views). This one is on epistemic hygiene, black holes, conspiracy theories, and a few other things besides. thecynefin.co/epistemic-hy...
Epistemic hygiene - The Cynefin Co
"The human understanding, when it has once adopted an opinion, draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number
thecynefin.co
Some preliminary musings on complexity (and why it is not very, very complicated) and associated ethics. thecynefin.co/complexity-i...
Complexity Is Not Beyond Us? - The Cynefin Co
“Matters concerned with conduct and questions of what is good for us have no fixity, any more than matters of health.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book
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Third and final post reflecting on the two CBI handbooks on knowledge management that I edited back in the 1990s and their relevance to today. This one includes the early version of Cynefin, with a 'transit hub' that became the aporetic/confused domain. thecynefin.co/cbi-km-2-3-a...
CBI KM 3/3: approaching the hub - The Cynefin Co
"Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into
thecynefin.co
Second of my three posts using the two CBI handbooks on knowledge management that I edited over two decades ago as a source - this time introducing the portolan chart. thecynefin.co/cbi-km-2-3-m...
CBI KM 2/3: map before you manage - The Cynefin Co
"Old wine does not set easily in new wineskins." CBI/IBM Guide to Knowledge Management, 1998 I finished the last post promising two things: an expansion
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First of an occasional series looking back on some knowledge management writing from two decades ago, which remains relevant today. thecynefin.co/small-wonder/
SMALL WONDER - The Cynefin Co
"Small wonder that Trojans and Achaeans should endure so much and so long, for the sake of a woman so marvellously and divinely lovely." Homer, Iliad,
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Seeing pruning in the organisation as a series of paradoxes thecynefin.co/the-paradoxe...
The paradoxes of the knife - The Cynefin Co
If you want good roses, sharpen your knife and harden your heart. Patience Strong, The Glory of the Garden (1951) A second Gaping Void illustration today,
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I'll be in Singapore 27-28 July to keynote at the Regional Scrum Gathering and also provide an Executive briefing. That's the 'Regular + Executive Brief' at $799 on the booking form in the link. Some free slots outside of the event itself. DM if interested: www.rsg-singapore.org/event-detail...
Regional Scrum Gathering® Singapore 2026 | 7-8 August
The foremost Agile conference of the region returns this 27-28 July!
rsg-singapore.org
An illustrated field guide to epistemic parasites who are regretably on the increase, consultants despirate for business or fame, LLM augmented, etc., etc. But this should help you spot and name them. thecynefin.co/a-field-guid...
A Field Guide to Epistemic Parasites - The Cynefin Co
So, naturalists observe, a fleaHath smaller fleas that on him prey,And these have smaller still to bite ’em,And so proceed ad infinitum. Jonathan Swift,
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Final post for now in the lotus eating series; looking at some of the temptations of fame, but more specifically at the promulgation of solutions without understanding the context from which they arose, or the changed context that AI and social media have brought. thecynefin.co/the-lotus-ea...
The Lotus Eaters 3/3: A Futurist on a Stage - The Cynefin Co
"So they came presently to the Lotus-eaters... and there was no thought of return." Homer, Odyssey, Book IX (trans. Samuel Butler) The introduction to
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Second of my three examples of the Lotus Eaters, this time an article by Laloux, propagated by corporate rebels (who should know better) and the whole 'Teal, replaces Turquoise, replaces Yellow, and then there was Coral' game of superiority. thecynefin.co/the-lotus-ea...
The Lotus Eaters 2/3: The Next Colour - The Cynefin Co
"Nor did any sight of smoke, nor any sound... reach them from that shore; only the lotus, and the wish to eat it, and, having eaten, to remain." Homer,
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First of the three promised examples of lotus eating: Otto Scharmer's recent piece for MIT Sloan Management Review on AI. thecynefin.co/the-lotus-ea...
The Lotus Eaters 1/3: of caves & fires - The Cynefin Co
"Whoever ate the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus... wished to stay there forgetting all about going home." Homer, Odyssey, Book IX (trans. Samuel Butler)
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magical book spines for my fellow bibliophiles
Critical reflections on day two of the brilliant Knowledge Summit in Dublin, written the morning after the night before in the Guness Brewery. thecynefin.co/supermindles...
Supermindlessness? - The Cynefin Co
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?’ — T. S. Eliot, Choruses from The Rock It is early
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Reflections on Day One at the Knowledge Summit Dublin event. thecynefin.co/struggle-and...
Struggle and the Shawl of Wisdom - The Cynefin Co
Fionn gained the wisdom of the Salmon of Knowledge not by seeking it deliberately, but by accident: a burnt thumb, instinctively sucked. From then on the
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My earlier social media definition of a complex system now gets an update on the blog - it is still a work in progress. I've also added some general comments on the responses to the original post. thecynefin.co/defining-a-c...
Defining a Complex System - The Cynefin Co
… whereas strong dynamic links among components (characterized as nodes) result in a “strong cluster”, weak links between strong clusters give rise to a
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I was asked late last night for my definition of a complex system. I slept on it, thought a bit, played with options, & came up with something. Too long for a single LinkedIn post, so I asked Claude to tart it up a bit as an image, and it did! A tad pretentious, but here it is for comment.
Soltise summary of all posts since the spring equinox published thecynefin.co/summer-solst...
Summer solstice - The Cynefin Co
The solstice does not choose between rising and falling; it is the moment both are true."Trobwynt nid yw terfyn A summary of posts since the Spring
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A frustrated and exploratory post on the dangers of manufactured binaries and the false assumption that they have to be bridged. Using Mary Midgley, Mary Douglas, and the film The Mission to illustrate a different approach to reconciliation of practice and belief. thecynefin.co/two-marys-an...
Two Marys and (The) Mission - The Cynefin Co
‘Before I built a wall I’d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out.’ — Robert Frost, Mending Wall Mary Midgley is having a moment. Metaphysical
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A few weeks after my dialogue with Adam Kahane on the second edition of his classic 'Collaborating with the Enemy'. In that discussion, I raised a question about his use of Tillich (following Martin Luther King) and promised to write it up, so here it is: thecynefin.co/a-promise-to...
A Promise to Adam Kahane - The Cynefin Co
‘Grace is not a strange, foreign element which invades us from outside; it is the secret entelechy of our own being.’ — Karl Rahner S.J. Entelechy is
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Three plays with a theme of power & hope, and the relationship between a production and its e audience. Two by Brecht and the RSC's new Prospero, a vehicle for Branagh, but just as Quirrell was taken over by Voldemort; Branagh has been taken over by Lockhart thecynefin.co/verfremdungs...
Verfremdungseffekt: strange, not distanced - The Cynefin Co
‘Plenty of hope, for God — no end of hope — only not for us.’ Franz Kafka, to Walter Benjamin This is the third in what has become a habit rather than a
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"It is a truth universally acknowledged that any sufficiently original idea in organisational change must be in want of a Buddhist antecedent." Continuing (and summarising) the theme of misappropriation in consultancy and other practice. thecynefin.co/a-marriage-m...
A marriage market of ideas - The Cynefin Co
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any sufficiently original idea in organisational change must be in want of a Buddhist antecedent. Jane
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I'm close to getting into the top 10% sponsorship group for the London-Brighton Cycle Ride in a few weeks. Just under a hundred kilometres at age 72 - so please donate, it all goes to the British Heart Foundation. page.justgiving.com/fundraising-...
JustGiving Fundraising Heroes
Celebrate your achievements with JustGiving! Raise money for charity, collect badges for your milestones, and see your position alongside other amazing JustGiving fundraisers.
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Final post (for now, there is more to come) in the Theory of Change (not to be confused with Theory of Constraints) series, this time moving to some of the work we have been doing based on anthro-complexity and its potential. This is an invitation to discussion thecynefin.co/toc-3-3-unde...
ToC 3/3: Understanding the Substrate - The Cynefin Co
‘Each set of questions comes in from a different angle and needs a different kind of solution … There is no way in which they can be piled up into a
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I'm taking on the London to Brighton Bike Ride for the British Heart Foundation. Just under 100 km and one big hill at the age of 72. Please sponsor me! I've hit the base target, going for the stretch goal, so please help www.justgiving.com/davidsnowden...
David Snowden is fundraising for British Heart Foundation
Help David Snowden raise money to support British Heart Foundation
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Second post in the Theory of Change series, this time looking at the ontological shift needed and the need for complexity to be front and central thecynefin.co/toc-2-3-onto...
ToC 2/3: ontological shifts - The Cynefin Co
‘Just so, at an imaginative level, many people are inclined to think that physics can reduce the muddled living world to an idealised mathematical form.
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First in a three-part series on the Theory of Change issue, stimulated by a recent useful publication from the Centre for Development Impact (Institute of Development Studies & UEA). thecynefin.co/toc-1-3-fore...
ToC 1/3: Foreclosing the Territory - The Cynefin Co
‘The truth is, of course, that no map shows everything. Each map concentrates on answering a particular set of questions. Each map “explains” the whole
thecynefin.co
