David John Snowden (born 1954) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

and researcher in the field of

knowledge management Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...

and the application of complexity science. Known for the development of the

Cynefin framework The Cynefin framework ( ) is a conceptual framework used to aid decision-making. Created in 1999 by Dave Snowden when he worked for IBM Global Services, it has been described as a "sense-making device". ''Cynefin'' is a Welsh word for ''habitat' ...

, Snowden is the founder and chief scientific officer of Cognitive Edge, a Singapore-based management-consulting firm specializing in

complexity Complexity characterises the behaviour of a system or model whose components interaction, interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to nonlinearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generall ...

and

sensemaking Sensemaking or sense-making is the process by which people give meaning to their collective experiences. It has been defined as "the ongoing retrospective development of plausible images that rationalize what people are doing" ( Weick, Sutcliffe, ...

Education

Snowden graduated in 1975 with a BA (Hons) in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

from the

University of Lancaster , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = ...

, where he was a member of County College. He obtained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in 1985 from

Middlesex Polytechnic Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries of ...

Career

Snowden worked for Data Sciences Ltd from 1984 until January 1997. The company was acquired by IBM in 1996. The following year Snowden set up

IBM Global Services IBM Consulting, rebranded in 2021 from IBM Global Business Services, is the professional services and consulting arm of IBM. IBM Consulting provides services to companies, global government organizations, non-profits and NGOs. IBM Consulting IBM ...

's Knowledge and Differentiation Programme. While at IBM Snowden researched the importance of

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

within organizations, particularly in relation to expressing

tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge—is knowledge that is difficult to express or extract, and thus more difficult to transfer to others by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. This ...

. In 2000 he became European director of the company's Institute for Knowledge Management,"Dave Snowden"
LinkedIn. Retrieved 28 November 2016. and in 2002 he founded the IBM Cynefin Centre for Organisational Complexity. During this period he led a team that developed the

, a decision-making tool. Snowden left IBM in 2004 and a year later founded Cognitive Edge Pte Ltd, a management-consulting firm based in Singapore.

Works

Snowden is the author of several articles and book chapters on the Cynefin framework, the development of

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

as a

research method Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

, and the role of complexity in sensemaking. In 2008 he and co-author Mary E. Boone won an "Outstanding Practitioner-Oriented Publication in OB" award from the

Academy of Management The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professors ...

's Organizational Behavior division for a

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

article on Cynefin. In 2008–2009 he wrote a column for ''KMWorld'' on trends in technology, "Everything is fragmented". He is an editor-in-chief of the journal ''Emergence: Complexity and Organization''."Review Board"
''Emergence: Complexity and Organization''.

References

External links

Publications by Dave Snowden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snowden, Dave 1954 births Living people Academic journal editors Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of County College, Lancaster Alumni of Middlesex University IBM employees Knowledge management Welsh educators