Can you express Vickers ideas in the methodology proposed by Snowden
Expressing Sir Geoffrey Vickers’ ideas through Dave Snowden’s methodology (Cynefin) involves reframing the “Appreciative System” as a mechanism for navigating the Complex domain[1][2].
While traditional systems thinking often focuses on “goal-seeking” (ordered logic), Vickers and Snowden both prioritize managing the present over engineering a fixed future[3][4].
1. The Decision Cycle: Judgments as Probe-Sense-Respond
Vickers’ three judgements can be mapped directly onto the Probe-Sense-Respond decision loop required for the Complex domain[5]:
• Reality Judgment (Sense): In Snowden’s methodology, this is the process of gathering raw data—specifically micro-narratives—to see “what is the case” without the bias of an analyst[8][9]. It is the act of sensing the system’s current disposition[10].
• Value Judgment (Sense/Refine): Once reality is sensed, it is compared against the system’s appreciative settings (its internal norms and values)[11]. This determines if the current state is “good or bad” and identifies a “mismatch signal” that requires action[12][13].
• Instrumental Judgment (Probe/Respond): Because complex systems are unpredictable, you cannot “fix” them with a direct command. Instead, you launch “safe-to-fail” experiments (Probes) to see if you can nudge the system back into alignment with your norms[7][11].
2. Appreciative Settings as “Dispositional Constraints”
Snowden manages complexity by identifying attractors and barriers (constraints)[14]. Vickers’ Appreciative Settings—the readiness to see and value certain things while ignoring others—act as the internalized constraints of a social system[15][16].
• In a Cynefin context, these settings define the system’s “internal model of reality”[17].
• Handling diverse perspectives involves using Self-Signification (where subjects index their own stories) to reveal the varied appreciative settings across a “human sensor network”[8][18].
3. Relationship Maintenance vs. Goal Seeking
Snowden’s rejection of managing toward a “defined future state” in complexity aligns perfectly with Vickers’ core principle of Relationship Maintenance[3].
• Snowden’s View: Manage the “evolutionary potential of the present” rather than a fixed vision[3].
• Vickers’ View: Success is not reaching a “stop” (goal) but keeping essential relationships (with the environment, stakeholders, and values) within stable limits over time[20][21].
4. Narrative as the “Appreciative” Medium
Both authors argue that formal, linear models are inadequate for human complexity[22][23].
• Vickers views “appreciation” as a social process of mutual persuasion and dialogue to align inner worlds[24].
• Snowden operationalizes this through Narrative Research, using anecdotes and “messy coherence” to capture the complexity that mathematical models or rigid prose might miss[25].
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Would you like to explore how to use Snowden’s “Ritual Dissent” to challenge a team’s current “Appreciative Settings,” or should we look at how the “Italian Flag” model helps categorize Vickers’ Reality Judgments?[28][29]
References
[1] 💬Distinctions.md [2] 💬Distinctions.md [3] 💬Distinctions.md [4] 💬Gists.md [5] 💬Gists.md [7] 💬Nutshell (Process).md [8] 💬People Dynamics.md [9] 💬Questions.md [10] 💬Distinctions.md [11] 💬Nutshell (Process).md [12] 💬Environment.md [13] 💬Questions.md [14] 💬Environment.md [15] 💬Distinctions.md [16] 💬Keywords + Jargon.md [17] 💬Perspectives.md [18] 💬Perspectives.md [20] 💬Gists.md [21] 💬Perspectives.md [22] 💬Perspectives.md [23] 💬What is Complexity.md [24] 💬Perspectives.md [25] 💬How To Guides.md [28] 💬People Dynamics.md [29] 💬Environment.md