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

If you are new to Cynefin, you may want to start with Dave’s short description of Cynefin, and then read Dave’s origin story, my chapter on Cynefin principles, and Zhen Goh’s chapter, Cynefin & ... Otherwise, you can choose a temporal lens and explore the chapters based on how long the authors have been in this community.

Playing in the tension

While the Framework and some of the methods may seem deceptively simple, if used without applying these principles, they easily lose their transformative value and we may not get the hoped-for results.

What Cynefin is in BRIEF Dave Snowden

At its most basic, Cynefin allows us to distinguish between three different kinds of systems: ordered systems that are governed and constrained in such a way that cause and effect relationships are either clear or discoverable through analysis; complex systems where causal relationships are entangled and dynamic and the only way to understand the s

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 is an entanglement of theory & practice

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.

In general, if a community is not physically, temporally, and spiritually rooted, then it is alienated from its environment, and will focus on survival rather than creativity and collaboration.