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
Snowden graduated in 1975 with a BA (Hons) 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
Snowden 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
Snowden 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]