Cynefin - Weaving Sense-Making Into the Fabric of Our World

Heuristics

When we find ourselves in the in-between spaces, the liminal space, our task is to be mindful of suspending judgment, keeping our options open and enabling action that allows novelty to emerge and patterns to stabilize.

Cynefin values coherence and difference, even though they are in tension. Too much difference and things become incoherent. Too much coherence and things become too homogeneous.

Playing in the tension

Coherence comes from understanding the boundaries of their applicability.

Cynefin’s boundaries help us to know what kind of systemic context we find ourselves in, and when we are transitioning from one to another. Being able to locate ourselves also helps us determine the appropriate actions to take, and the methods and tools that are fit for that particular systemic context.

Cynefin is all about boundaries. In that way, it reflects human systems such that knowing where the boundaries are between specific contexts are critical to our meaning-making, identity structures, and ability to relate to each other.

Constraints or boundaries create coherence.

This chapter aims to help users of Cynefin understand the principles behind it, and the context we need to create to get the most out of the Framework and the methods. (To enrich the reader’s understanding of these principles, we are using symbols to indicate throughout the book which of these principles are relevant to each of the chapters. You ca