Category Archives: Appropriateness
DOG ASBOs – Anti-social Barking Orders – why not enforced?
<rant> Woken at 7am this morning by dogs howling, others barking and later yapping and yipping. It went on all day … off and on … and every day of every week. Why do dog owners think it’s OK to … Continue reading
Support Ukraine – Support Democracy …
… while you still can … Everybody has their take on what the Dictator of the Russian Federation wants. Everybody wonders what winning looks like. Many people have assessed how far he might go and when he might stop in … Continue reading
When technology alienates people
A friend sent me an email this week expressing his rage at the way we are treated by big tech – that reasonable people are being made into ‘cyberoutlaws’. He said: “… everyday someone’s b**tard web site changes or there … Continue reading
Why are ‘unintended consequences’ almost inevitable?
We so often hear politicians, managers and those in positions of authority wailing about the ‘unintended consequences’ of their actions – or worse, excusing damaging outcomes with a shrug of the shoulders and saying “But they were unintended consequences …” … Continue reading
Applying Complexity Thinking to the Real World
PRINCIPLES FOR [BRINGING ABOUT] EFFECTIVE CHANGE IN [REAL-WORLD] PRACTICE The eleven ‘Principles of Practice’ below have been derived from the experiences of practitioners (people who are responsible for bringing about real-world change) which are discussed in a companion book “Complexity … Continue reading
ISIS Ascendant – Because the West gave up its Winning Strategy in 2001?
A Winning Strategy Lost? The UK’s ‘Bin Laden Dossier‘ of 2001 reports that Bin Laden’s motivation was to wage jihad against countries (such as the USA and UK) engaging in ‘un-Islamic behaviour’. In his speeches, Bin Laden cited examples of … Continue reading
War on Terror – always unwinnable?
The so-called ‘War on Terror‘ has a rather silly name – as daft as a ‘war on democracy’ or a ‘war on happiness’. Terrorism has been part of the human condition for millenia. As history shows, one person’s terrorist is … Continue reading
Limits to modelling – Godel’s Incompleteness theorem
Agent-based modelling is often hailed as a way of modelling the future, predicting outcomes in social situations. But there are both hard limitations on what you can predict with modelling, and a lack of understanding of those limitations.This post examines … Continue reading
Possibility, Risk Asessments and dealing with Possible Futures
There is a fundamental flaw in most risk assessments – they are based on past data. That means that they are useless in the face of crises or deep uncertainty, in ambiguous situation or when faced with so-called ‘zero-day’ events. … Continue reading
Transitioning to Adaptive, Forward-looking Ways-of-Working
In previous posts we talked about the different Aspects of adaptation and what this means for the learning that organisations, communities or individuals might have to do. What follows from this is an obvious question – how do you go … Continue reading
Harnessing Dynamic Change 