I've done a good deal of reading lately around my usual themes of knowledge management, project management, and network analysis. I've also been reading a good deal about chaos, complexity, and systems, which are other areas of interest. In synthesising all of these disciplines I've come to realise just how useful Dave Snowden's Cynefin Framework actually is, and I have decided to incorporate it into my doctoral thesis. I just wish Dave would publish his long promised and overdue book. So I can gain a greater understanding of his framework I've decided to enrol in his next course in Australia , but I digress.

In an earlier blog I mentioned of Remington and Pollack's book "Tools for Complex Projects ". They classify projects as being structurally complex, technically complex, directionally complex, and/or temporarily complex. Now it seems to me their classification and the Cynefin Framework fit together very nicely, as shown in the illustration.

About a month ago I read “Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another” by Doctor Philip Ball , who is a physicist by education and a science writer for Nature . I read it because of my interest in networks and complexity, and this book promised some insights. It was an entertaining read, but was hard going in a lot of places. Despite this the book was well written and flowed naturally.

I did enjoy the first chapter on Thomas Hobbes "Leviathan", probably because I like philosophy! The point of the chapter was that mankind has been trying to discover universal laws of society since at least 1651, and continues to do so. In subsequent chapters at times I was disappointed and found myself saying “So what!” or “Where is the evidence?” – cause and effect where not always clear to me.