People Aren't Ants: The One With Dave Snowden

Episode Summary

In this episode, hosts Mark McGrath and Brian "Ponch" Rivera have a conversation with Dave Snowden. Dave is the creator of the Cynefin Framework and originated the design of SenseMaker®, the world’s first distributed ethnography tool. He is the lead author of Managing complexity (and chaos) in times of crisis: A field guide for decision-makers, a shared effort between the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, and the Cynefin Centre.

Mark, Ponch and Dave have a wide ranging talk about Dave’s work and its connection to the work and theories of John Boyd.  

Key Takeaways

-Introducing Dave Snowden
-Connections between Dave’s work and Boyd’s theories and complexity theory
-What Dave wonders if Boyd had lived longer, specifically to OODA
- Ponch asks Dave about anthro-complexity 
-Complexity has no linear material causality; this challenges Systems dynamics and cybernetics
-The Divide: People aren’t ants! 
-Ponch mentions Boyd’s favorite book
-Dave reveals the primary connection of Cynefin to Boyd: Orientation! 
-Dave on the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and human complex adaptive systems
-And much more!

Episode Notes:

//Dave Snowden and links to his work//
Dave Snowden Biography
Dave Snowden Sensemaker
Cynefin Workshops

//Books & briefs mentioned in this Episode//
The New Killer App: The OODA Loop and Cynefin Framework
How the Leopard Changed Its Spots by Brian Goodwin
Cynefin: Weaving Sense-Making into the Fabric of Our World
"Grammatical Man, Information, Entropy, Language, and Life" -Jeremy Campbell 
“Cybernetics" F. H. George, 

//Theories mentioned in this episode//
The Cynefin Framework

 //The Papers of John R. Boyd//
John R. Boyd Collection, COLL/2949, Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division, Quantico, VA.

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