We are the complexity cogitators.
We talk about complexity and try to make sense of organizational behaviour.
Show art attribution: Victoruler, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
complexitycogitators.substack.com (https://complexitycogitators.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
How do you best describe an organization's direction?
Is it even useful to have a geometric metaphor for something that doesn't exist in a coordinate system?
And when discussing an organization's strategic intent, is it useful to know that serving a potato is a perito front?
9 Sept 2026
#015 - "Some" Thoughts on Complexity
What is an enabling constraint?
Why is it so difficult to talk about direction in organizations?
And how come some thoughts around diversity in organizations are still controversial?
Today, we have Anders Wengelin as a guest. Anders is CEO and management consultant at Friktion (https://www.friktion.se), a small consultancy specializing in nonlinear methods and approaches to change and transformation in organizations.
5 Aug 2026
#014 - Navigating Organizational Paradox
What does it mean to accept and navigate a paradox?
How come it is so difficult for organizations to accept that adding more details to a plan only increases the likelihood of it being wrong?
Luckily for us, Eric Wenzel wrote a book called A Course in Paradoxical Thinking - Why Transformations Cannot Be Managed and So Must Be Managed.
21 Jul 2026
#013 - Team Cognitive Load
Is Team Cognitive Load something you should actively manage for?
Is it an organizational design criteria worth optimizing for?
10 Jun 2026
#012 - Philosophy in Organizations
Does philosophy or philosophical work deserve attention in organizations?
Or is there no inherent value in naming some of the inevitable work we all do in organizations, as philosophy?
14 Apr 2026
#011 - WTF is an Engineering Manager
What does an Engineering Manager actually do?
As it is a very common role in organizations, should it not be relatively easy to create a role description or role definition?
In this episode we will at least try.
24 Mar 2026
#010 - Everything is Strategy...?
Is everything strategy?
No, everything is not strategy.
But more than we traditionally believe.
It is also easier than we think, but more complex than we want it to be.
24 Feb 2026
#009 - Insufficient Collaboration
Still inspired by nomadology from the minds of Deleuze and Guattari, we set out on a conversation to explore the question - how do you set and express boundaries within which the war machine can move and operate freely while still living up to the state's demands for legibility, while also enabling and incentivizing collaboration?
19 Feb 2026
#008 - Agile Nomadology
What ever happened to the agile revolution that was supposed to come?
Or did it already happen and quietly got absorbed into normality for software development companies?
In today's conversation, we are applying the lens of nomadology, a concept by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to, perhaps, say that what happened to the agile movement with a capital A was completely natural.
3 Feb 2026
#007 - Maturity Models
Should you always use a maturity model?
And what makes them useful?
Furthermore, what is the difference between a model and a framework?
19 Jan 2026
#006 - Goals and Feedback
What is the difference between fedback and feed-forward?
What separates a first order cybernetic system from a second order cybernetic system?
And how is this connected to how we formulate goals, both personal and the goals we set in organizations?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe (https://complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
7 Jan 2026
#005 - Uncertainty and Predictability
Predictability… what does it mean in complex environments with inherent uncertainty?
Is it simple to achieve in enterprise software development organizations, as I claim?
Is it an emergent property, as Marco says?
Or is it both?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe (https://complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
19 Dec 2025
#004 - Leadership - part 2
What is leadership?
As we continue to scrape the surface of that question, in this part two of our conversation we start to touch on the complexity of leadership and talk about emergent leadership behaviours as well as non-directional leadership.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe (https://complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
15 Dec 2025
#003 - Leadership - part 1
What is leadership?
That is what we are trying to scrape the surface of in this conversation.
As this turned out to be a long conversation it is split in two parts.
In this part one we are mostly centered around the full range leadership model as a lens to view and understand leadership in organizations.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe (https://complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
2 Dec 2025
#002 - Agile
Is Agile dead?
If so, have we already started the transition to the next paradigm?
Or, is Ashby’s law reason enough for agility to be immortal?
That is what this episode of Complexity Cogitators is about.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe (https://complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
25 Nov 2025
#001 - Culture
What is organizational culture?
Is there a definition that clearly explains what you need to know?
And in order to influence culture, what should you measure?
Can you measure culture?
That is what this inagural episode of Complexity Cogitators is about.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe (https://complexitycogitators.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Host of Complexity Cogitators Podcast?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
