Exploring Wicked Problems

In 1852, referring to “the Goodness of the French Revolution,” Victor Hugo wrote that “No one can resist an idea whose time has come.” That ideas emerge, expand in size and scale until they become so compelling that they cannot be resisted, is a powerful insight. In the past decades many new ideas - often small and seemingly insignificant - have appeared, then grown in size and importance until they could not be resisted. Western societies have given us many examples: woman’s suffrage; a 40-hour-work-week; an end to child labor; a rejection of the use of torture; outlawing chemical warfare; the Civil Rights movement; fair housing laws; desegregation in education; equality in marriage; acceptance of people with different sexual and gender orientations; gender-neutral language. And most recently, in 2017-2018, we have seen the Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movements suddenly emerge and grow into powerful ideas whose times have come.

Another idea that has grown in importance over the past 45 years and is becoming increasingly irresistible is the recognition and importance of Wicked Problems. In the early 1970’s two professors at the University of California introduced the idea that all important problems can be sorted into two categories: Tame and Wicked. While the many differences between them are discussed in the following chapters of this book, the most important one is that Tame problems can be solved while Wicked problems can only be sorted out, worked on, and continually addressed. Today most people approach problems as if they are all the same. This turns out to be a serious mistake. As more and more people become aware of the existence and importance of wicked problems, they are asking the critical question: “Is this problem tame or wicked?” How this question is answered determines what should be done, by whom, when, and how long their efforts should continue. That answer, “tame or wicked,” determines everything that follows.

“The world’s wicked problems crowd us like piranha,” wrote Marty Neumeier in The Designful Company in 2008. “You know the list: pollution, overpopulation, dwindling natural resources, global warming, technological warfare, and a lopsided distribution of power that has failed to address massive ignorance or Third World Hunger.” What Neumeier doesn’t include on his list are the wicked problems that directly and powerfully affect our personal lives: dysfunctional families, unsatisfying relationships, unresolved conflicts with our loved ones, colleagues, friends, or neighbors, noxious workplaces and unresponsive governments, to name just a few. Wicked problems will be found wherever people come together to try and make things better.

In “Innovation America,” published in 2007, former Harvard professor and futurist John Kao wrote “…wicked problems hold the keys to making the most consequential breakthroughs of the twenty-first century…” Innovation applied to a wicked problem can realize an enormous amount of social and economic value. Kao believes that by taking on the wicked problems that are increasing world-wide in numbers, importance and intensity, and “by using our mastery of innovation as a force for good in the world…it is within our power to earn anew the status of ‘indispensable’ nation.” Kao’s goal is clear: “I want America to be in the wicked problems business.” But in point of fact, in our families, in our most important relationships, at work and in our complicated and complex lives, we are already in the wicked problems business. We just don’t fully realize it. At least not yet. Increasing our chances for success in our lives, in relationships and at work is directly tied to mastering the “wicked problems business.”