David John Snowden (born 1954) is a Welsh management consultant and researcher in the field of knowledge management and the application of complexity science. Known for the development of the Cynefin framework,[1] Snowden is the founder and chief scientific officer of The Cynefin Company, a Singapore-based management-consulting firm specialising in complexity and sensemaking.[2]
David J. Snowden | |
|---|---|
 Dave Snowden, 2016 | |
| Born | David John Snowden 1954 |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Education | BA (philosophy), University of Lancaster, 1975 MBA, Middlesex Polytechnic, 1985 |
| Occupation | Management consultant |
| Employer(s) | The Cynefin Company, Singapore |
| Known for | Cynefin framework |
| Website | https://thecynefin.co/ |
Education
editSnowden graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in philosophy from the University of Lancaster, where he was a member of County College.[3] He obtained an MBA in 1985 from Middlesex Polytechnic.[4]
Career
editSnowden worked for Data Sciences Ltd from 1984 until January 1997.[4] The company was acquired by IBM in 1996.[5] The following year Snowden set up IBM Global Services's Knowledge and Differentiation Programme.[6]
While at IBM Snowden researched the importance of storytelling within organisations, particularly in relation to expressing tacit knowledge.[7][8][9] In 2000 he became European director of the company's Institute for Knowledge Management,[4] and in 2002 he founded the IBM Cynefin Centre for Organisational Complexity.[10] During this period he led a team that developed the Cynefin framework, a decision-making tool.[11][12][13]
Snowden left IBM in 2004 and a year later founded Cognitive Edge Pte Ltd, a management-consulting firm based in Singapore, now trading as The Cynefin Company.[14]
Works
editSnowden is the author of several articles and book chapters on the Cynefin framework, the development of narrative as a research method, and the role of complexity in sensemaking.[2] In 2008 he and co-author Mary E. Boone won an "Outstanding Practitioner-Oriented Publication in OB" award from the Academy of Management's Organizational Behavior division for a Harvard Business Review article on Cynefin.[15][16] In 2008–2009 he wrote a column for KMWorld on trends in technology, "Everything is fragmented".[17] He was an editor-in-chief of the journal Emergence: Complexity and Organization.[18]
References
edit- ^ Bob Williams, Richard Hummelbrunner, Systems Concepts in Action: A Practitioner's Toolkit, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2010, 163–164.
- ^ a b "Biography of David Snowden" (PDF). cognitive-edge.com, courtesy of Athabasca University. 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "Interview with Dave Snowden" Archived 8 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Lancaster University Enterprise Centre, 2016
- ^ a b c "Dave Snowden", LinkedIn. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ "IBM to acquire Data Sciences", New Straits Times, 7 March 1996.
- ^ "Knowledge Management: Managing a New Age of Uncertainty" (PDF). Alba Executive Education Programs. 2000. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016.
- ^ Patti Anklam, Net Work, Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007, 182.
- ^ Alicia Juarrero, "Cauality and Explanation", in Peter Allen, Steve Maguire, Bill McKelvey (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Complexity and Management, London: SAGE Publishing, 2011, 161–162.
- ^ Dave Snowden, "Storytelling and Other Organic Tools for Chief Knowledge Officers and Chief Learning Officers", in Dede Bonner (ed.), Leading Knowledge Management and Learning, Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development, 2000, 237–252.
- ^ "The Cynefin Centre for Organisational Complexity", IBM Global Services, archived 14 June 2002.
- ^ David Snowden, "Complex Acts of Knowing: Paradox and Descriptive Self Awareness", Journal of Knowledge Management, 6(2), May 2002, 100–111. doi:10.1108/13673270210424639
- ^ Cynthia F. Kurtz, David J. Snowden, "The new dynamics of strategy: Sense-making in a complex and complicated world", IBM Systems Journal, 42(3), 2003, 462–483. doi:10.1147/sj.423.0462
- ^ Thomas Quiggin, "Interview with Mr. Dave Snowden of Cognitive Edge", Seeing the Invisible: National Security Intelligence in an Uncertain Age, Singapore: World Scientific, 2007, 212.
- ^ "Cognitive Edge Pte Ltd", Bloomberg. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ "Outstanding Practitioner-Oriented Publication in OB", obweb.org.
- ^ David J. Snowden, Mary E. Boone, "A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making", Harvard Business Review, November 2007.
- ^ Dave Snowden (2009). "Everything is fragmented". KMWorld.
- ^ "Review Board", Emergence: Complexity and Organization.