 |
 |
Dear Harold, Thanks for your elegant post on the problem with problems. The nature of problems and the different kinds and classes of problem form a background issue to discussions of the wicked problem. Articulating the issues sheds valuable light on the conversation. Werner Kunz and Horst Rittel’s IBIS approach and the systems that evolved from it such as dialogue mapping or issue mapping focus on identifying the problem and its nature before attempting to deal with it in some way. The example of three participants who do not arrive at a common choice for a shared experience such as dinner, a movie, or a travel route is a good case of a problem that cannot be “solved” while it can be “resolved.” This reflects the original elements of the Greek word for problem as a thing thrown or put forward. The Greeks used the word problem for a question proposed for solution, a task, or question concerning the truth of a statement. The Greeks also used the word to designate a difficult question or situation, a puzzle, or a riddle. This bears a close resemblance to the nature of the problem with respect to the framing and perception of those who address the problem. The problem may be an entity in the world that forces participants to respond (“Houston, we’ve had a problem”). The problem may rise from a decision to question a state of affairs that once seemed unproblematic (absolute monarchy). It may involve reframing an issue (the emergence of relativity theory from 19th century physics). The nature of “the problem” depends on relations to the world within which the problem is embedded, on perception, on framing, and a host of other factors. One core idea of formal argument systems such as IBIS involves explicitly teasing those issues out of the tangled mess of what the problem might otherwise remain. Understanding the nature of a problem plays a key role in how we address the problem. That was the core issue of The Problem Comes First, a 1986 book that Jens Bernsen wrote for the Danish Design Council. A widely used aphorism states, “If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” For me, the take-home message of your post is that understanding problems better gives us a better set of tools to choose among. In seeing problems for what they can be, we expand our tool-kit. Warm wishes, Ken Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished Professor | Dean, Faculty of Design | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia | [log in to unmask] | Ph: +61 3 9214 6078 | Faculty www.swinburne.edu.au/design