# Thinking Cynefin

When the right response mode is unclear, classify the cause-effect domain first...

- Repository: https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills (1690 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-08-07
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-cynefin -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-cynefin -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-cynefin -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-cynefin -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills`

## Description

When the right response mode is unclear, classify the cause-effect domain first; decompose disorder.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Cynefin Classification

Classify by cause-effect, then use only the matching response mode. Wrong-domain method is the failure mode.

## When to Use

- Unsure whether to run a playbook, analyze, probe, or stabilize.
- A method keeps failing and domain mismatch is plausible.
- A novel or mixed problem needs approach selection before solution work.

## When NOT to Use

- Domain and method are already agreed, execute.
- Task is finding a specific cause, not choosing an approach.
- Classification done; switch to the domain method, do not re-label endlessly.
- Pure mechanical edits with no approach uncertainty.

## Procedure

1. **State the unit.** Name the decision, incident, or subsystem; if mixed, list separable parts.
2. **Probe cause-effect.** Is the link obvious, expert-analyzable, retrospective only, or imperceptible in turbulence? Check predictability, urgency, and probe safety.
3. **Assign one domain per unit:**
   - **Clear**, obvious → Sense → Categorize → Respond with a runbook.
   - **Complicated**, expert-analyzable → Sense → Analyze → Respond; several valid answers.
   - **Complex**, emergent → Probe → Sense → Respond with safe-to-fail probes; amplify/dampen signals.
   - **Chaotic**, no safe sensing time → Act → Sense → Respond; stabilize first.
   - **Disorder**, unknown → split and classify each part.
4. **Mismatch check.** Reject Clear if its runbook fails; Complicated if analysis cannot predict; Complex if probing is unsafe; Chaotic once safe probing becomes possible.
5. **Commit and stop.** Output domain + first actions. Re-classify only on evidence of domain shift.

**Stop when** every unit has one domain, first actions, and a falsifier, or disorder is decomposed.

## Output

The rest: https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/thinking-cynefin/SKILL.md