Wicked isn't evil

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I've been thinking about some unreasonable problems. Some call them 'wicked'. The wicked problem isn't evil. The wicked problem is one where the issues interlock and become interdependent, perhaps even circular: the infamous Catch 22. There's no definitive statement of the problem. In fact, until the problem a solution is proposed, you may not know what the problem is!

In a wicked situation, the solution defines the problem

Climate change may be the ultimate wicked problem of our age. Where do you start? Where do you end? Everyone has a stake, and so everyone is going to be touched; some will lose and others won't.

Actually, in the public policy domain, wickedness is all too common. So, what does a project manager do?

There are a few things that seem to work

• Assemble a coalitionn of the willing. Keep the number of stakeholders as small as possible
• Lead with a solution rather than the problem; solve things bottom up. The solution finds its problem, as it were
• Create a sense of urgency so momentum builds
• Keep the scope contained; do small-ball things to get started

Some get at this problem with the IBIS, the issue based information system. You can learn more by viewing my IBIS slide share (below) or take a read through this posting from Eight to Late. You'll read this:

IBIS consists of three main elements:

• Issues (or questions): these are issues that need to be addressed.
• Positions (or ideas): these are responses to questions. Typically the set of ideas that respond to an issue represents the spectrum of perspectives on the issue.
• Arguments: these can be Pros (arguments supporting) or Cons (arguments against) an issue. The complete set of arguments that respond to an idea represents the multiplicity of viewpoints on it.

There are some graphical tools that go along with this, and they are discussed and displayed in the posting.

The Wicked Problem

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Complexity

Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them

Laurence J. Peter

I'll think I'll just let this one stand, but if you want to read more, browse through this explanation of the "wicked problem".

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That wicked thing

In the project game, it's usually said: "it all comes back to requirements"

Usually.....

But, there's a thing called 'wicked', invented more or less to explain requirements--or lack thereof--in the political and policy domain. Unlike the domains most of us work in, projects that are motivated by, or subject to, political and policy influences as dominate influences often can not really formulate requirements, even requirements in the agile sense.

The wicked idea is this: the requirements are not knowable until the solution is knowable. From a project perspective, as conventionally governed, such an idea is a really perverse feedback loop.

In Excel terms, it's what the 'resolver' does: it tries a solution on the source to see if it fits. That's pretty much the wicked situation. You talk about the requirements, then you talk about the solution, and then on the basis of yet another solution that might actually be doable, you back fit the requirements.

I fell upon a paper, one of the source documents for this line of thinking ("Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning"  by Rittel and Webber) , that outlines 10 'wicked issues'.

1. There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem. The information needed to understand the problem depends upon one's idea for solving it.

2. Wicked problems have no stopping rule

3. Solutions to wicked problems are not true-or-false, but good-or-bad

4. There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem. With wicked problems, on the other hand, any solution, after being implemented, will generate waves of consequences over an extended--virtually an unbounded--period of time.

5. Every solution to a wicked problem is a "one-shot operation"; because there is no opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts significantly. With wicked planning problems, however, every implemented solution is consequential. It leaves "traces" that cannot be undone

6. Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan

7. Every wicked problem is essentially unique

8. Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem

9. The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem's resolution

10. The planner has no right to be wrong. Here the aim is not to find the truth, but to improve some characteristics of the world where people live. Planners are liable for the consequences of the actions they generate

Maybe the arguments about agile methods and requirements are not so bad after all!

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The Wicked Problem

Thinking about the unreasonable problems

I've been thinking about some unreasonable problems. Some call them 'wicked'. The wicked problem is one where the issues interlock and become interdependent, perhaps even circular, as in Catch 22. There's no definitive statement of the problem. In fact, until the problem is resolved, you may not know what the problem is -- it takes hindsight to see --

Some get at this problem with the IBIS, the issue based information system. You can learn more by viewing my slide share below or at http://www.slideshare.net/jgoodpas/slideshows.

Are you networked on LinkedIn? If so, share this article with your network by clicking on the link.

The Wicked Problem

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