The problem is something we routinely encounter and we know instinctively how to solve. Familiarity with the solution means that we employ best practice. Our behaviour is to sense the situation, categorise the situation and respond with our standard solution.

The problem is something we occasionally encounter and we have some understanding of how to solve. Having used the solution a few time means that, at most, we will employ good practice. Our behaviour is to sense the problem, analyse the problem and data from previous encounters (blueprints) and respond with a plan of action.

Covers problems we have never encountered before and for which there may be no readily available data or blueprints. We are faced with having to create a new solution from scratch - we will employ imperfect or exaptive practice that is new to us. Our behaviour is to probe the problem by experimentation, sense what our experiment data is telling us and respond by taking action that moves the problem (or some of it) into the complicated domain.

Note: exaptation is the utilisation of a structure or feature for a purpose other than that for which it naturally evolved. In Cynefin it expresses the idea that we have to use existing practice - that’s all we know - even though that practice is not fully suited to the needs of our problem.

Includes situations that move quickly and that are so multi-faceted we really don’t understand where to start in creating a solution. Chaos is stressful and unproductive so we need to do something to try and escape the chaotic situation and impose a new level of stability. Our behaviour is to act to escape the worst of the chaos, sense whether the level of stability has improved enough to allow some level of planned next steps and respond in order to move the problem (or some part of it) to another domain.

The fifth “domain” in the framework - when we don’t understand the problem sufficiently to be able to allocate it to the four normal domains. All we can do is seek more information until we do understand the problem and can sensibly place it in one of the normal domains.

Arguably we always start in disorder - its just that much of time we don’t need to do much analysis to choose the right domain for the problem. But here lie the origins of the catastrophic fold…

Finally there is the Catastrophic Fold between the simple and chaos domains. The fold reflects familiarity breeding contempt or stuff happens. If we are familiar with a problem and assume it falls in the simple domain, we may have made wrong assumptions about the nature of the problem. Rather than being something familiar and simple, it turns out to be a fire-breathing dragon.

Another way the fold can be encountered is when we fail to recognise that our context has changed. The change in context invalidates our previous best practice, so that when we try to resolve the problem we fail. Unexpected failure can create the chaos that we have striven to avoid.