Hired Thought

Category: Writing

  • On Diversity

    Just a few years ago, I would not have been able to articulate why organizational diversity matters. (I know that for a fact, because I once offered a barely adequate, fumbling answer during an interview. Despite somehow getting the job, I remained largely clueless for some time.) Times change, I’ve learned some things, and now…

  • Hidden Complexities

    Originally published September 24, 2016 I consider sense-making to be a component of Landscape and Doctrine (from Sun Tzu’s Five Factors), and so I am incorporating a short overview of Cynefin into an upcoming talk on strategy. While outlining, I toyed with a few examples for the various ontological domains and learned an unexpected lesson,…

  • Wardley Mapping, A PowerPoint Template

    UPDATE: A new template is available at LearnWardleyMapping.com. Check it out here. Originally published June 25, 2016 One particularly coherent approach to “strategy” involves using a map to pursue increased situational awareness from which to execute various forms of gameplay. This technique is known as Wardley Mapping, and I highly recommend reading through An Introduction to…

  • Cutting Costs. Or, How to Pretend Complex is Simple.

    Originally published March 20, 2016 Suppose a company discovers that its projected revenue is below original expectations for reasons outside of its direct control. The bottom-line numbers are going to look bad, so something must be done immediately. Cost-cutting measures will be explored, and when every budget has been squeezed and nothing else remains, the…

  • Cynefin, Culture Change as Complex

    Originally published February 27, 2016 The Cynefin framework (created by Dave Snowden) reveals that Complicated or Simple approaches break down and can only succeed by complete accident in the Complex domain, because causality is only clear in retrospect. From this basis, let’s briefly refute the notion of culture change as Simple or Complicated. If you…