Experience self-organisation - Playing Cynefin-Lego

1. BASEL BERN BRUGG DÜSSELDORF FRANKFURT A.M. FREIBURG I.BR. GENF HAMBURG
KOPENHAGEN LAUSANNE MANNHEIM MÜNCHEN STUTTGART WIEN ZÜRICH
Experience self-organisation
Playing Cynefin - Lego
Elke Mittendorf
Iris Zeyda

2. Elke Mittendorf
Three Words about us
Iris Zeyda
 Critical Mind
analyst, planer, modeller, structurer, RE
 Passion
organisational development – agile
principles
 Curiosity
consultant, trainer and coach
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3. Self-organisation? Coping with complexity?
How can such a difficult thing like Cynefin help?
 Problem Solving Framework
(sense makingpolicy making, strategy making, knowledge
management, etc.)
 Linking people, experience, order/disorder,
communication, decision, systems, organisations
 Analyse more? Or analysis-paralysis?
 How much planning?
 Self-organising teams or establish leaders/responsibles?
 Generalists or experts?
 Crossfunctional or homegeneous expert teams?
 Waterfall, Scrum, Lean or Task Force?
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4. License and Credits
The Cynefin Lego Game by agile42 is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License.
https://www.agile42.com/en/training/cynefin-lego-game/
Challenges and Retros adapted to fit into the time-frame
Cynefin Framework, Dave Snowden, Cognitive Edge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7oz366X0-8
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5. Setting of the Cynefin-Lego Game
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We shall play 4 «Challenges» for 4 «Cynefin Domains» with a lot of lego bricks.
• Teams of 5 people (select one as a time-keeper)
For each Challenge
1. Understand the «Challenge» (see Challenge Card)
2. Team: Complete the «Challenge»
(stop after <max> minutes, see challenge card for the max)
3. Team: After Completion «Retrospect» (see Retrospect Questions of the Challenge,
Timebox)
4. Share findings and Link findings to the «Cynefin Domain»

6. Challenge 1
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1. Sort the bricks into colours, as quickly
as possible.
2. Also: create one heap for all special
pieces.
3. Decide in your team which pieces you
want to treat as “special”.
Domain:
Obvious/Simple
Max =
2 minutes

7. Retrospect: Challenge 1
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1. How much time did you need for planning? For fulfilling the
challenge?
2. Communication and Decision structures:
 How many “leaders/followers”?
 Peer-to-peer communication?
3. How does your “problem solving” compare to other teams?
Domain:
Obvious/Simple
Timebox = 2 min

8. Patterns in Domain «Obvious/Simple»
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Problemgroup:
Cause -> Effect: obvious, repeatable, predictable
1. Structure:
(Top down decisions / Peer-to-Peer only on operativ issues)
2. Solutions similar in all groups
3. Domain of «Best Practices», standard
operating procedures
4. «Sense-Categorize-Respond»

9. Challenge 2
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Build a structure, as quickly as
possible, according to the
following rules:
 At least 20 bricks high
 Regular colour pattern,
#colours > 1
 Every new block that you add to
the structure can’t be bigger than
the one below it
Domain: Complicated
Bild 1
Bild 2
Max =
2 minutes

10. Retrospect: Challenge 2
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1. How much time did you need for planning?
For fulfilling the challenge?
2. Communication and Decision structures:
 How many “leaders/followers”?
 Peer-to-peer communication?
3. How does your “problem solving” compare to other teams?
4. What felt different compared to the simple problem? How
does your “problem solving” compare to other teams?
Domain: Complicated
Timebox = 2 min

11. Patterns in Domain «Complicated»
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1. Problem Group:
Cause - Effect: separated in time and space,
potentially understandable
2. Structure
short discussion/planning might be helpful
make a decision
improve process continously
3. Different Solutions possible,
repeatable and improvable
4. Domain of
«Good Practices»,
Experts, Professionals
5. «Sense-Analyze-Respond»

12. Challenge 3
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Decide in 30 seconds to build either an animal or a
vehicle. After that you work according to the following
rules:
 Regular colour pattern (# > 1)
 Each colour of bricks must only be touched by
one person in your team.
 Do not talk!
 Every minute, you need to switch tables, taking
your unfinished work with you (but not the
material).
Domain: Complex
Max =
3:30 minutes
(2 table changes)

13. Retrospect: Challenge 3
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1. Would it have made a difference if you had had five
minutes to talk and plan before you started building?
2. Communication and Decision structures:
 How many “leaders/followers”?
 Peer-to-peer communication?
3. What kind of feedback did you have to guide you towards
a solution?
4. What felt different compared to the simple/complicated
problem?
How does your “problem solving” compare to other teams?
Domain: Complex
Timebox = 2 min

14. Patterns of Domain «Complex»
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1. Problemgroup
Cause – Effect not repeatable, but retrospectively
coherent
2. Structure
• planning does not improve solution finding,
• just start and do
• attentiveness and common vision help
3. Solution-Finding
• Emergent
• Self-organised
• Solution patterns and experiments
4. Domain of
• Management
• Education
5. «Probe - Sense- Respond»

15. Challenge 4
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Decide in 30 seconds to build either a building or a plant
(3 dimensional). After that you work according to the
following rules:
You need to create a regular colour pattern (# > 1)
Each colour of bricks must only be touched by one
person in your team.
You are not allowed to talk.
At random times, the facilitator will touch a team
member’s shoulder and indicate another table. That
person then immediately joins the other team.
Domain: Chaotic

16. Retrospect: Challenge 4
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1. What was the impact of the small change ?
2. Communication and Decision structures:
 How many “leaders/followers”?
 Peer-to-peer communication?
3. What felt different compared to the
simple/complicated/complex problem?
How does your “problem solving” compare to other teams?
Domain: Chaotic
Timebox = 2 min

17. Patterns Domain «Chaotic»
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1. Problemgroup:
Cause – Effect are not connected
2. Structure
Act (Flight, Fight, Freeze)
Communication «fades away»
3. Solutions:
Stabilize
4. Domain:
crisis management
task force
Innovationsmanagement
5. «Act - Sense- Respond»

18. Self-organisation? Coping with complexity?
How can such a difficult thing like Cynefin help?
 Analyse more? Or analysis-paralysis?
 How much planning?
 Self-organising teams or establish
leaders/responsibles?
 Generalists or experts?
 Crossfunctional or homegenous expert teams?
 Waterfall, Scrum, Lean or Task Force?
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19. References, Recommendations
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1. Multi-ontology sense making: a new simplicity in decision making.
(Inform Prim Care, David J. Snowden, 2005;13(1):45-54)
2. A Leader's Framework for Decision Making - Harvard Business Review
(Harvard Business Review, David J. Snowden · Mary E. Boone. From the November
2007 Issue)
3. On understanding Software Agility http://cognitive-edge.com/articles/on-
understanding-software-agility-a-social-complexity-point-of-view/

20. Herzlichen Dank.
Für Fragen und Antworten stehen Ihnen zur Verfügung
Elke.mittendorf@trivadis.com
Iris.zeyda@trivadis.com
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22. Inhalte aktivieren
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