{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/classify-the-situation-before-choosing-the-method",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0335",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Classify the situation before choosing the method",
  "summary": "A checklist, expert analysis and experiment can all be excellent—and still be the wrong first move.",
  "kind": "heuristic",
  "body": "Ask what kind of cause-and-effect situation you are facing before choosing the response. If the relationship is clear, standard practice may fit. If expertise can analyze it, bring expertise. If patterns can only emerge through interaction, use bounded probes. If the situation is unstable enough that analysis cannot guide immediate action, stabilize first. If different parts behave differently, split them before choosing one method.",
  "limits": [
    "Cynefin categories are sense-making judgments, not objective labels; reclassify when evidence changes."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-adaptive-thinking-tools"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-2E446D189E93F6EF"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "Snowden and Boone's Cynefin framework proposes that different decision contexts require different response patterns rather than one universal management method.",
      "source_id": "RS-2E446D189E93F6EF",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The framework is a sense-making model; classification remains a judgment and can change as the situation develops.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "A familiar planning or problem-solving method is being applied automatically to a new situation."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Cynefin categories are sense-making judgments, not objective labels; reclassify when evidence changes."
  ],
  "example": "A production outage and a new product-market question may both feel urgent, but they do not deserve the same decision process.",
  "check": "The chosen method is justified by the situation's causal structure, not merely by habit or tool preference.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-2E446D189E93F6EF",
      "title": "A Leader's Framework for Decision Making",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18159787/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0335",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0336",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/use-small-safe-to-learn-probes-in-complex-situations"
    },
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0335",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0337",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/stabilize-chaos-before-asking-for-a-complete-explanation"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-1E80EF34BA7C785C",
      "title": "Choose a thinking tool from the shape of the problem",
      "url": "/collections/choose-a-thinking-tool-from-the-shape-of-the-problem"
    }
  ]
}