Cynefin-Framework

The Framework

Cynefin (pronounced kun-ev'in) is the name of a framework for Organic Knowledge Management.

The Centre

Cynefin is developed and used by the Cynefin Centre, an international network that focuses on the application of complexity science to management and organisational practice. The Centre spun off from IBM in July 2004 and is a network of academic institutions. Today the Centre provides methods, training, consultancy and plans to provide software tools in the near future. The network's creative figure is Dave Snowden who heads and works from the UK node. He co-workers complain that he keeps on changing the framework while teaching it!

The Welsh Connection

The name ‘Cynefin’ is a Welsh word whose literal translation into English as habitat or place fails to do it justice. It is more properly understood as the place of our multiple belongings; the sense that we all, individually and collectively, have many roots: cultural, religious, geographic, tribal etc. We can never be fully aware of the nature of those belongings, but they profoundly influence what we are. The name seeks to remind us that all human interactions are strongly influenced and frequently determined by the patterns of our multiple experiences, both through the direct influence of personal experience and through collective experience expressed as stories.

The Intellectual Capital

Alltough the Cynefin centres are commercial outfits, most of their work is published using a Creative Commons license. The Cynefin network operates on the belief that like hardware and software, consultancy methods will go open source.

The Nodes

Besides the UK node, other Cynefin nodes or organizations that mention Cynefin are in

• North America, also see the Kennedy Group.
• There is a lot of Cynefin related activity in Singapore.
• The Australian SOLA centre names itself a Cynefin learning partner.

The above information was reproduced and adapted from the Cynefin website

--Hvgard 17:13, 24 January 2006 (UTC)