Hirak Chatterjee
Welcome to my Social Blog
2y ago

Please check Part 1 - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6966297123772325888/ for learning more about a decision-making framework to prioritise your day to day work.

Over a period based on knows and unknowns, I often used to categorise problems and their course of actions. Later, I came to know that what I have been doing is a very naïve version of Cynefin Framework. You can learn more about it here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework

But let me share here my interpretation of this framework, so that you can start using it from today. The beauty of this framework is that, once you learn about it, you will not feel lost in mid of a crisis.

So this framework puts issues into 4 domains based on certain criteria. If you cannot identify which domain your problem belongs to, then your problem is part of the fifth domain called. "Disorder". Your task is to identify the nature of the issue and come out of "Disorder".

Following are the four primary domains:

  1. Simple

    Criteria:

    • Known Knowns

    • clear cause-and-effect relationship

    • one right answer

    Approach:

    • Ensure proper processes are in place

    • Follow best practice

    • Cookbooks, SOP's can help here

  1. Complicated

    Criteria:

    • Known Unknowns

    • Cause-and-effect relationship exists but not apparent

    Approach:

    • Create panels of expert

    • Analyze and decide on best response using good practice

    • Sometimes involving more members helps by bringing in innovative solution

  1. Complex

    Criteria:

    • Unknown Unknowns

    • Difficult to identify cause-and-effect relationship

    • Patterns emerge over a period

    Approach:

    • Gather large group for innovative ideas (e.g war rooms)

    • Experiment with different option to identify patterns

    • Try to reproduce

  1. Chaotic

    Criteria:

    • Unknowables

    • No cause-and-effect relationship

    • Crisis and emergency

    Approach:

    • take immediate action to reestablish order

    • move the problem to some other domain by achieving stability ASAP

(p.c: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework)

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