- 7 November 2020
- Posted by: Erkan Sarıkaya
- Category: AGILE
A framework for effective decision making: the Cynefin Model (pronounced “kuh-NEV-in”).
Being able to push a “complex” situation towards “complicated” and “simple” helps you solve it.
Cynefin is Welsh (a Celtic language spoken in Wales, Britain) for “the environment you are in, your habitat, the place you grew up in”.
The concept was created by Welsh scientist Dave Snowden in 1999.
It came to prominence in November 2007 with the article by Snowden and Mary Boone published in Harvard Business Review, titled “A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making”.
An 8-minute YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7oz366X0-8
| Simple | The cause-and-effect relationship is clear and obvious. E.g.: Lining up by height. |
| Complicated | Outcomes can be understood through analysis. E.g.: A car is complicated, but it can be taken apart and put back together. |
| Complex | (Agile) Examining the past in detail and making sense of it makes it easier to forecast the future accurately. This requires a memory built from experience, and plenty of trial and error adds to that experience. |
| Chaotic | Nobody knows what will happen when. There is no pattern. That’s why you first take precautions and fix the defects, then move to a permanent solution. |
| Disorder | An environment where even the absence of rules has no rules 😊 |
Erkan Sarıkaya
Enterprise Agile Coach
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Author: Erkan Sarıkaya — Enterprise Agile Coach, founder of GONEX. He writes on enterprise agile transformation, Scrum, and agile leadership coaching. Learn more on our About Us page, or read his other articles.