CodeCrafts | Crafting Combinations: A Hexi Approach to Complex Challenges

What is it?

In complexity, you start journeys with a sense of direction, rather than try and plan every step to a final goal. So where do you start from, when the way forward is unclear and always moving? In this workshop we will explore methods to look at where we are, where we want to go next, and what we can actually do about it.

Along the way, we will deal with questions like these:

What can I change and manage in a complex environment?

What do I do when simple goals don’t work?

How do I plan in and for uncertainty?

How do I combine the grand vision with the day-to-day?

This workshop will draw on the work of complex adaptive system expert Dave Snowden, the creator of Cynefin, and the methods of the Cynefin Co.

We will introduce the new estuarine framework, an approach that has been gaining traction worldwide in industry and government as a conflict-free approach to strategy. Through this framework, we will learn how to map the landscape of the organisation with an eye towards change. By understanding the energy cost of change in our environment, we will look at ways to harness it and work with its currents.

We will also cover a selection of practical Cynefin Co complexity-friendly methods, principles and practices by interweaving material from the Hexi method kits as we discuss how we move from mapping to action, and from sensing to intervention – as well as answering the question of what on earth a hexi is!

Please note: We cannot cover the full range of Cynefin Co methods in an introductory training – while this training offers a high-level introduction, specific Methods may require additional training or mentoring to implement.

Anna Panagiotou

Anna is a programme lead, researcher, and consultant for the Cynefin Co. She has been working with Dave Snowden and the organisation for more than four years, starting from training coordination and moving to working with clients, members, and programmes. There, she brings a perspective informed by materiality, archaeology, and her academic background to the theory and practice of complexity.

Anna leads the Climate Change and co-manages the Education programmes. Alongside program development and supporting clients in the application of tools and methods appropriate to human complexity, she provides training and supports the development of new theory and methods. She has an MA in Egyptian Archaeology and a PhD in Mediterranean Archaeology from UCL. She is a greedily omnivorous reader who is interested in everything and tends to change location every couple of years.