The Field Guide › Paper
Introduces the Cynefin framework — a sense-making tool that sorts problems into five domains: simple (now 'obvious'), complicated, complex, chaotic, and disorder (now aporetic/confused). The critical distinction for PS is between complicated and complex. Complicated systems have knowable cause-and-effect relationships that experts can analyse and solve; complex systems are characterised by emergence, unpredictability, and the inadequacy of expert solutions. Most organisations are complex systems, not complicated ones — yet most management practice treats them as if they were complicated. In complex contexts, the right approach is to probe, sense, and respond (rather than analyse, then act), to encourage dissent and diversity, and to create conditions in which novel solutions can emerge. Psychological safety is not named but is structurally implied: complex systems require people to speak up with weak signals, challenge prevailing assumptions, and experiment without penalty for failure. The framework helps explain why standard management techniques — best practices, command-and-control, expert-led solutions — systematically fail in complex organisational environments.