KM: Abstraction & Codification
[Dave Snowden 2020-12-27]
- The key original work of Max was in the creation of the I-Space which has three axes: abstraction, codification, and diffusion.
- The Boisot Blog
- When and how you codify formal methods and also at what level to pitch the language of a paper
- There is a balance here, high abstraction, high codification allows ideas to diffuse faster but often at a loss
- The zone is an important one to work out, model, and consider before you over commit
- Far too many method vendors codify too fast without paying attention to abstraction and then we get loss of integrity
- It takes time for the various conventions of abstraction to evolve and these can include semiotics/symbols, specialist language, and also the social process for education and acknowledgment of mastery
- A significant problem with Agile is that it codified without necessary abstraction, a sin it shares with many a previous fad
- One of the things I didn’t do with Cynefin was to rush into premature codification
- Now happening as the final abstractions have been worked out and that has taken time