Frameworks · Decision & Strategy

The frameworks behind workflow decisions.

Which tasks AI should absorb, which it should support, which it should stay out of.

Two sense-making frameworks that sharpen workflow mapping. Cynefin gives leadership a vocabulary for why some tasks belong to AI and some don't: different problems call for different kinds of decision. Jobs to Be Done asks what job the worker is hiring AI to do, not just what the task looks like.

Both sit underneath the Workflow-First Sequence. Cynefin shapes the per-task classification in the AI-Workflow-Fit Map. Jobs to Be Done adds the why layer the workflow map needs before AI is sequenced into it.

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Cynefin Framework

A sense-making framework with four domains: Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic. Each calls for a different kind of decision.

Dave Snowden's sense-making framework, four domains. Clear: sense, categorize, respond. Complicated: sense, analyze, respond. Complex: probe, sense, respond. Chaotic: act, sense, respond. Leadership decisions fail when the approach doesn't match the domain.

Use case
Why the AI-Workflow-Fit Map has three categories: "AI absorbs" suits Clear and Complicated, "AI supports" suits Complex, "AI stays out" suits high-stakes Complex or Chaotic.

How Far West applies it
Used in Discovery and Advisory: why one task gets full automation while a similar-looking neighbour gets human-in-the-loop or stay-out.

thecynefin.co · About Cynefin

Jobs to Be Done

A framing question: what job is this worker hiring AI to do?

Clay Christensen's framing: customers, and workers, hire products to do a job. The underlying job, not the surface task, is the real opportunity. Someone hiring AI to write better emails may be hiring it to look competent in front of a skeptical boss.

Use case
Sharpens workflow mapping by asking what job the worker is hiring AI to do. It resists fashion-driven automation and shows jobs people care about but never name.

How Far West applies it
Used in Discovery: a why layer underneath each task, alongside the Workflow-First Sequence.

christenseninstitute.org · Jobs to Be Done

Where this work shows up

Decision-and-strategy frameworks anchor Discovery and approach work.

AI Workflow Discovery: Cynefin shapes per-task classification; Jobs to Be Done shapes the workflow map.
Monthly Advisory Retainer: Cynefin gives the leadership team a shared vocabulary for ongoing AI decisions.
The Workflow-First Sequence: both frameworks sit underneath the methodology.

Where to start

The Workflow Map stage is where these frameworks earn their place. Scope it on a call.

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