The Complicated Domain (Cynefin Framework)
In Cynefin’s Complicated domain, cause-and-effect relationships can be analyzed with appropriate expertise. The supplied account describes a leadership consultancy that values experts but often neglects the data and analysis some of its own decisions need.
THE IDEA
Loving and hating the Complicated
We find that when we move from Confused into the Complicated domain, we can wrestle with ourselves. Appropriately, we use experts well when we need to; we don’t try to solve a challenge that really requires expertise that we don’t have. And we value deep expertise in our own colleagues. Those we invite to join us at Cultivating Leadership have some significant knowledge and experience to share with us and the world.
But, we rarely use Complicated processes of analysis. We tell stories for meaning, but we spend less time talking about hard data – numbers of programs, hard measures of client satisfaction, etc. Compared with other businesses, we talk very little about money or collect hard data on where our client leads come from. We are also more likely to want to keep tinkering with a successful leadership program long past the point of adding much value, and we are too often reinventing the wheel. By default we slip back into Confusion and back into Awareness, our familiar dance. But we work hard to collectively remind each other that some things simply are Complicated, and we should treat them as such.
When to use it
Evaluating investment options by consulting financial analysts
Diagnosing a mechanical failure using expert technicians and diagnostic tools
Designing a new product feature by leveraging user research and data analytics
Implementing a new business process with the help of management consultants
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Cultivating Leadership's approach
Cultivating Leadership describes valuing expertise while underusing data on client satisfaction, marketing, and finances. The authors recognize this as a tendency to correct, alongside repeatedly redesigning programs that already work.
Using Experts for Complicated Problems
When faced with a challenge requiring specialized knowledge (e.g., legal, financial, or engineering problems), the Complicated domain advises seeking experts rather than attempting to solve it alone or oversimplifying.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of a recent decision you made: did you treat a complicated problem as simple or confusing, or did you properly engage expertise?
How can you recognize when you are slipping from the Complicated domain back into Confusion or Awareness?
In your organization, do you over-rely on analysis or under-use it when dealing with complicated issues?
Often confused with
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Cynefin - Weaving Sense-Making into the Fabric of Our World ED02 (Dave Snowden Sonja Blignaut Zhen Goh)