Solving wicked problems

Here's an awesome article that may interest improvisers: Wicked Problems: Naming the Pain in Organizations, by E. Jeffrey Conklin & William Weil.

Conklin and Weil draw interesting distinctions between tame and wicked problems. They also suggest that the natural, human way to deal with wicked problems does not follow the linear route of the text books. The one that goes Gather data - Analyse - Formulate Solutions - Implement. This may be useful backup if you are trying to persuade an organisation to put faith in Improv's apparently less-structured approach.

Here are a few samples to whet your appetite...

A wicked problem is an evolving set of interlocking issues and constraints. A linear approach to solving a wicked problem simply will not work...

Of course, going with the flow of wicked-problem solving takes some getting used to. It is like going for a quiet canoe ride and finding yourself in rapids. You perk up and pay attention to cues you did not notice before, and paddle like your life depends on it...

Solving a wicked problem is a fundamentally social process...

There is no way to prevent the introduction of new constraints to a wicked problem...

Distinguishing problems as wicked has a beneficial side effect. Most of us yearn to "get to the bottom line" or "get the right answer." We call this the Answer Reflex-you jump to a solution, any solution, when confronted by a question or issue. Once you recognize that the most interesting problems in life cannot be solved definitively, you naturally shift your focus to the quality of the problem-solving process. What results is that you ultimately value learning over getting the right answer. Not only is this more satisfying; in our experience, it also produces better results.

Maybe we should invite the authors to our conference?

(Thanks to Chris Corrrigan for pointing me to the article. He has some intersting things to say relating these thoughts to Open Space, the format we'll be using for our conference this fall.)

Posted by Johnnie Moore on May 4, 2005 05:12 AM in Articles
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