Derived from Cynefin framework

Cynefin Sense-Making Framework

Classify live problems into the Cynefin domains so each one gets the decision approach its nature actually allows.

All templates

When a team is applying best practice to a problem that has none, or analysis to one that needs probing.

What you need and what you get

You'll need

The problems or decisions on the table
A judgement of how knowable cause and effect is for each

You'll get

A classified Cynefin view, downloadable as PNG or PowerPoint
The matching decision approach per problem

Cynefin framework: matching the decision approach to the problem

Clear, Complicated, Complex and Chaotic domains each prescribe a different decision approach, from best practice to novel action, with Disorder at the centre for questions not yet placed.

Classify each open question by how cause and effect behave, then apply the domain's approach: expert analysis where it can settle the matter, safe probes where it cannot, and immediate action only where there is no order left to find.

Up to three items per domain.

Add the questions you are wrestling with to their domains. This line counts what you have classified.