All Life Is Problem Solving

  In earlier posts, I discussed Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework from the viewpoint of systems classification, offered an alternative to it, and then offered some critical comments. I did this because (a) Dave sometimes used the term “system” in describing one or another Cynefin “domain” and (b) a lot of the recent discussion on Cynefin […]

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Types of Systems The very circumscribed and also very partial and incomplete take on the history of General Systems Theory I provided in my last post, leaves us in the following position with respect to the problem of classifying systems. There are three very important dichotomies which have emerged out of the history of General […]

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Introduction   One of the aspects of Dave Snowden’s Cynefin approach is the identification of three physical and five human “domains,” or “systems.” The physical systems are called “order,” “chaos,” and “complexity.” In the area of human systems Dave breaks “order” down into known (simple) and knowable (complicated) systems, and also adds a fifth “domain” […]

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This is my second blog entry commenting on Dave Snowden’s “Wave-particle duality” piece. My first reply addressed the strawman, knowledge as thing and flow, and paradox issues. This one will address the other six issues he raised. Once again, they are: 1. “If you think in categories, then the world is presented in categories or […]

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This week Dave Snowden discussed my views in two of his blog entries. My last blog entry, “Is There A Correct Interpretation of Hamlet?” answered his first entry. This blog installment and at least one, perhaps two, following it will begin to answer his second entitled: “Wave-particle duality.” I must admit I had a funny […]

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The Fifth Plague of Egypt (J. W. M. Turner, 1800) I’d like to thank Olaf Brugman and Jack Vinson for their comments on my blog post about Knowledge Management and Strategy. I am very interested in the parallel between the view of The New Knowledge Management (TNKM) and Rudolf Steiner’s work of 1919, and I […]

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  Owentsia Hunt Ball — Chicago (1904) Commentary on Dave Pollard’s Blog on Social Networking (continued from Part 1) KM, Social Network Management (SNM) and Conceptual Drift You then went on: “Four important unanswered questions: 1. What role can Social Network Enablement and social software play in enhancing individual and organizational learning?” Social network enablement […]

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  Rain, Steam, and Speed (J. W. M. Turner, 1844) In March of 2004, David Pollard served as the Star Moderator in the Association of Knowledge Work’s (AOK) Star Series. Many subjects were covered during the very fruitful exchanges of Dave’s tenure. One of my posts (message 1484) was a commentary on one of Dave’s […]

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Light and Color (J. W. M. Turner, 1843) In the opening blog of “All Life is Problem Solving”, I gave a general account of how problem solving occurs in living things including humans. In my second post I focused on problem solving at the organizational level. Here I want to develop some ideas about Personal […]

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In the opening blog of “All Life is Problem Solving,” I gave a general account of how problem solving occurs in living things including humans. But are organizations living systems, or, at least, are they like living systems in their problem solving patterns? How does organizational problem solving happen? In seeking an answer to that […]

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