Dave Snowden

Dave Snowden

David John Snowden (born 1 April 1954) is a Welsh lecturer, consultant and researcher in the field of knowledge management.

He has been described as an expert on tacit knowledge,^[1] and "One of the most perceptive observers of the way in which knowledge is used in organizations."^[2] In 2008 he won the Academy of Management award^[3] for an "Outstanding Practitioner-Oriented Publication in OB" for a Harvard Business Review article^[4] co-authored by Mary E. Boone.

Snowden developed the Cynefin framework, a practical application of complexity theory to management science.^[5][6] The framework helps managers determine the prevailing operative context, enabling appropriate choices and decisions.^[4] Snowden explains the choice of the term Cynefin (pronounced /ˈkʌnɨvɪn/): [it is] a Welsh word that signifies the "multiple factors in our environment and our experience that influence us in ways we can never understand".^[4] Cynefin has no direct translation into English, but its meaning is similar to 'habitat' and is also used "as an adjective used to convey 'acquainted' or 'familiar'."^[7]

He describes his three basic rules or principles of knowledge exchange:^[2][8]

"Knowledge can only be volunteered; it can't be conscripted."

"People always know more than they can tell, and can tell more than they can write."

"People only know what they need to know when they need to know it."

Professional activities

Snowden was born in Ongar, Essex, to Welsh parents. When he was three, his parents returned to Wales and Snowden grew up in Mold, Flintshire, where he was educated at the Alun School.^[9] He earned a degree in Philosophy from the University of Lancaster, where he was a member of County College. Following University he worked for the Student Christian Movement for three years. Moving into industry he obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration at Middlesex University studying part time. Following a series of roles in various organisations, he was one of the management team who bought Data Sciences from Thorn EMI. When that organisation was acquired by IBM, he became a Director in the IBM Institute for Knowledge Management and subsequently founded their Cynefin Centre for Organisational Complexity.^[9] He is currently the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge, a research network that focuses on the development of the theory and practice of sensemaking.^[9]

Snowden is a visiting professor at the University of Pretoria, adjunct at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and a visiting fellow at Warwick University, Nanyang University, the Università Cattolica and the Singapore Management College. He has also held visiting positions at the universities of Canberra and Surrey. In 2008-2009 he wrote a column, for KMWorld, called Everything is fragmented on trends in technology, social issues, the scientific use of narrative.^[10] Snowden lives in Lockeridge, Wiltshire, England and, as of 2010, is an editor-in-chief of the journal, Emergence: Complexity and Organisation and a director of funding allocation for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council on the subject of emergence.^[4][9][11]

Notes

1. ^ Stewart, Thomas A (7 September 1998). "The Cunning Plots of Leadership". Fortune Magazine. 
2. ^ ^{a b} White, Martin (20 October 2004). "Knowledge Management Involves neither Knowledge nor Management". EContent Magazine (Information Today) (October 2004). http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=7122&ContextSubtypeID=10. Retrieved 2010-02-21. 
3. ^ "Outstanding Publication in OB". Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management. OBWeb. http://www.obweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=64. Retrieved 2011-03-07. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Snowden, David J; Boone, Mary E. "A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making - Harvard Business Review". Harvard Business Review (Harvard Business Publishing) (November 2007). http://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making/ar/1. Retrieved 2010-02-23. 
5. ^ Snowden, D. (2000) “Cynefin, A Sense of Time and Place: an Ecological Approach to Sense Making and Learning in Formal and Informal Communities” conference proceedings of KMAC at the University of Aston, July 2000
6. ^ Snowden, D. (2000) “Cynefin: a sense of time and space, the social ecology of knowledge management”. In Knowledge Horizons: The Present and the Promise of Knowledge Management eds. C Despres & D Chauvel Butterworth Heinemann October 2000
7. ^ Williams, Kyffin (2010). The land & the sea. Llandysul: Gomer. ISBN 1 8590 2553 6 9 7818 5902 5536. 
8. ^ Warner, Fara (21 August 2001). "He Drills for Knowledge: Fast Company". Fast Company Magazine (Gruner + Jahr) (50). http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/50/leadingedge.html. Retrieved 2010-02-23. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d} "http://www.cognitive-edge.com/files/Dave-Snowden.pdf" (PDF). Cognitive Edge. Cognitive Edge. 2008. http://www.cognitive-edge.com/files/Dave-Snowden.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-23. 
10. ^ Snowden, Dave (2009). "Everything is fragmented". KMWorld Magazine (Information Today). http://www.kmworld.com/Authors/AuthorDetails.aspx?AuthorID=2059. Retrieved 2010-02-21. 
11. ^ "E:CO - Editorial Board". Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence (ISCE). ISCE. 22 December 2008. http://iscepublishing.com/ECO/board.aspx. Retrieved 2010-02-21. 

Works

• "The art and science of Story or ‘Are you sitting uncomfortably?’", Business Information Review December 2000 vol. 17 no. 4 215-226.
• "Complex acts of knowing: paradox and descriptive self-awareness", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 6 Iss: 2, 2002. pp. 100 - 111.
• "The new dynamics of strategy: Sense-making in a complex and complicated world", IBM Systems Journal, Volume: 42 Issue:3, 2003, 462 - 483.
• with Mary E. Boone, "A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making of the circumstances they face", Harvard Business Review, November 2007.

External links

• List of articles by Dave Snowden
• Vinson, Jack (31 October 2007), "Dave Snowden interviewed by Jon Husband", Knowledge Jolt, http://blog.jackvinson.com/archives/2007/10/31/dave_snowden_interviewed_by_jon_husband.html, retrieved 3 February 2010 

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Name	Snowden, Dave
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Date of birth	1954-04-01
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