Principles of Abstraction & Codification

[Dave Snowden 2020-12-27]

1. Meaningful communication is only possible within an acceptable zone of abstraction and the broader the range the more expensive the cost of creating it
2. Scalability or high diffusion only happens with high codification AND abstraction, if you just codify before the abstractions are established and evolved then integrity is lost
3. Exaptation or radical repurposing is the lowest cost for innovation in an organisation
4. Mapping knowledge as a fine enough level of granularity to allow it to be recombined (exapted) in a novel context is key to human innovation and should not be left to change
5. Suboptimal individual behaviour generally allows the system as a whole to optimise, within limits
6. Vigorous debate and the ability to experimentally argue a position with commitment is critical to the advance of knowledge
7. All ideas, processes, methods and the like are subject to the test for coherence