Dear Harold and Kari-Hans,

Thanks for your valuable comments. You each raise issues to which I
will return. Wicked problems (or messes) constitute a core issue in
design research.

Harold, the steps toward solutions that I will come back to parallel
some of the processes you label as design approaches. One of the
common attributes of many good approaches is rooted in Horst Rittel's
comment of stating problems well. That is why I worked my way through
the taxonomy outline. I do not suggest that restatement and
reformulation will work on genuine wicked problems or messes, but
careful inspection and reflection helps us to distinguish among cases
and classes of problem.

It would be most valuable if you were to go further in outlining the
approach that you and Erik take in your new book.

Kari-Hans, I agree with you on the importance of wicked problems as a
field of inquiry. There were two reasons for describing ranges and
classes of problems. The first was to demonstrate that many difficult
problems are difficult rather than wicked problems. The second was to
suggest that sorting kinds and classes of problems permits us to
focus our energy more effectively by freeing is from category
confusions in stating, choosing, and addressing problems. I do not
underestimate the large number of truly wicked problems. This is an
infinite class with new examples emerging daily, and it is hard to
understate the size of an infinite class.

In reviewing the kinds of problems, I mentioned the Encyclopedia of
World Problems (Union of International Associations 1994). This is a
massive three-volume book that outlines issues in detail, linking and
connecting them in recursive cycles. To say that wicked problems are
the smallest of several classes of design problem is not to say that
this is a small class. It merely suggests the scale and scope of the
issues involved.

If you are interested in examining the on-line version of the
Encyclopedia, you will find it at URL:

http://www.uia.org/encyclopedia/home.php

We face many wicked problems, and these problems are some of the most
important problems we face.

The reason for being clear on the nature of wicked problems (or
messes) is the inherent difficultly of addressing these kinds of
problems without strong analytical, logical, rhetorical, and
imaginative skills. I have seen many cases in which designers think
they have solved problems by relying on intuition and iterative
solution cycles, when, in fact, they have merely shifted,
externalized, or exacerbated the problem. (I discussed some issues
concerning the nature of problems in a paper published long ago by
UIAH. See: Friedman 1997.)

It is precisely because these problems are important that we require
clarity and care in addressing them.

It will probably be April before I post the second half of my notes
on wicked problems. In the meantime, thanks for your note. The degree
of true wickedness in the world is often astonishing. The reasons are
many. This deserves continued and deep reflection.

"So I turned my mind to understand,
to investigate and to search out wisdom
and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
and the madness of folly."

-- Ecclesiastes 7:25

More to follow in April.

Best regards,

Ken


References

Friedman, Ken. 1997. "Design Science and Design Education." In The
Challenge of Complexity. Peter McGrory, ed. Helsinki: University of
Art and Design Helsinki UIAH. 54-72.

Union of International Associations, editors. 1994. Encyclopedia of
World Problems and Human Potential. Munich: K G Saur.

Note

The Union of International Associations maintains a large web site
with many issues of interest to designers and design research. It is
located at URL:

http://www.uia.org/

--

Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Leadership and Organization
Norwegian School of Management

Visiting Professor
Advanced Research Institute
School of Art and Design
Staffordshire University