On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 1:17 AM, Jean Schneider <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> With 501 design methods freshly tested and published, there must be at
> least one that will resolve the financial crisis, another one the climate
> crisis, and more than one for happiness ;-)
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My favorite response to Jean's (tongue-in-cheek) comment comes from the
American Journalist H. L. Mencken:
Every complex problem has a simple solution.
And it is wrong.
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Which reminds me: I never responded to Terry's (tongue not in his cheek)
comment about my posting of articles from the American National Academy of
Engineering on decision making for wicked problems. He asked why each
discipline didn't know what others had done, implying that he found the
articles devoid of content. I fear he didn't read the papers.
The best paper (the one i recommended) pointed out that in the face of
complex problems, the most common decision is no decision: to delay
action, even when it is known that delaying action is the worst of all
possible courses of action.
See global warming. See energy crisis. See healthcare. see educational
reform. See disposal of nuclear waste. See preparation for predicted
natural disasters. See paying for the maintenance of infrastructure. See
reform of tax systems. ...
This is the political reality of the world we live in. All the formal
design methods, all the theories, all the work by clever people in multiple
fields (some readers of this list) does not erase the truth of real human
decision making when faced with a set of unattractive options, especially
when strong political forces are attached to each of the contradictory
options: stall, delay, make no decision.
So I urge all of you to read the real papers. '
Yes we have 501 methods to solve problems. But for really difficult
problems, we always appoint distinguished committees to read the multiple
reports of the previous distinguished committees, to make recommendations,
and to provide us with yet another thick, detailed report. The result is
that we end up applying method 0: do nothing and hope the problems can be
put off during our lifetime, leaving it for the next generation of people
to solve.
Don
(In a hotel in São Paulo, Brazil. At a User Experience, South America
conference.)
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