Cognitive Edge is focused on rejuvenating management practices to better equip organisations when addressing intractable problems or seizing new opportunities in uncertain and complex situations. Where traditional approaches have failed to deliver success, Cognitive Edge techniques enable the emergence of fresh and insightful solutions seen from multiple perspectives.

Cognitive Edge solutions, comprised of open source methods, original research and the Cognitive Edge SenseMaker® Software Suite, are delivered through the Cognitive Edge Network. The Cognitive Edge Network is a widely dispersed, cohesive Network of experienced professionals in private and public sector organisations from diverse disciplines with deep-rooted experience in both business and science. It includes academics and practitioners, in house and commercial consultants. Membership of the Network is attained through participation in an Accreditation programme.

The Cognitive Edge SenseMaker® Software Suite provides a set of tools designed to enable informed decision making in organisations using both structured and unstructured data in a common environment. The Suite is fully integrated with a coherent body of formal methods is the outcome of several years of research into human based organizational complexity, sensemaking, decision making, knowledge sharing and narrative.

Operating Principles

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Overview
The Network seeks to apply insight from science and the humanities to organisations.  The theoretical basis lies in naturalistic sense-making, the organisational model is based on the development of an open source approach to consultancy methods and the provision of monetary value to the network through development of software.

Sense-making
Sense-making is defined as how we make sense of the world so that we can act in it.  Our approach draws primarily on insights from the cognitive sciences and the science of complex adaptive systems along with anthropology and philosophy; not as an academic theory but as a co-evolution of sound theory with practice.

Abundance not scarcity
The Network applies the principles of the open source movement to the development of and access to methods.  No one in the Network can seek to take or develop these methods to create proprietary advantage, although Network members are encouraged to augment and develop them for common use.  The Network is open to independent consultants, academics, members of in-house and large consultancy organisations.  In all cases they participate as individuals who are expected to respect this principle of abundance in all their interactions.

A naturalistic approach
Naturalistic approaches focus on a sufficient and shared description of the current state to allow the creation of interventions the impact of which can be monitored to allow the emergence of an beneficial future state.  Naturalism is contrasted with normative or idealistic approaches which start with a desired future state, perform a gap analysis and then seek to close that gap.

Descriptive self awareness
Our research and consultancy methods aim to minimise the need for expert interpretation and recipe style approaches to
intervention design.  Instead we focus on facilitating the emergence of meaning through and by the members of the organsiation or the subjects of the research.

Bounded & complementary applicability
No method or approach has universal applicability, normative methods such as process re-engineering and systems dynamics are all useful, but within boundaries.  We develop naturalistic methods for use by the Network in conjunction with more traditional approaches.

Accreditation
Members of the Network are required to attend a basic accreditation programme and to maintain a record of their projects on the Cognitive Edge web site which is available for peer and client review.  This record includes auditable statements concerning benefits for clients and mentor involvement in projects.  A member's status is thus dependent on their practice not patronage, and on proof not certification.  All members must make their clients aware of the Cognitive Edge web site, with its directories of practitioners and methods.  Network members may make no claims to special status or authority within the Network.

Use of our name
The Network depends on maintaining the reputation of the Cognitive Edge name.  Accordingly it can only be used for methods as published on the web site in their original form.

SenseMaker®

Within Cognitive Edge while methods are open sourced, revenue is generated to support the Network through the development of software and the sale of software licenses and services.