Chris, Terry, et al,
The terms 'tame' versus 'resolve' suddenly put me in mind of Alexander's
pattern languages, and how a pattern 'resolves' forces in a situation.
That got me thinking of one possible connotation of the 2 terms with respect
to each other. To 'tame' seems quite active and forceful. To 'resolve' seems
less so to me, and more a matter of letting things find a balance perhaps with
assistance but largely on their own.
Could this difference help us? That is, one can resolve wicked problems, or
one can tame them. (And maybe there are other options too.)
Taming would involve a forcing of the problem into a simpler 'mold' as it
were, because the situation requires it, whereas resolving it would be a more
hands-off approach where one finds a solution that promotes a more "natural"
(sorry, best word I can think of now) balance of the forces involved.
Am I making any sense here?
Cheers.
Fil
Chris Rust <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I was struggling to come up with a term and felt that "resolve" had enough indeterminacy :o) Since the wicked problem, by definition, has many possible solutions the designer has to do enough to resolve it for a single instance of the problem but that does not mean it will be tamed for other instances.
>
> I agree that this is not very precise terminology but I guess that's the nature of wicked problems.
>
> best
> Chris
>
> Terence Love wrote:
>> Hi Chris,
>> What do you see is the essential difference between 'resolving' and 'taming'
>> (as an activity)? It reads as if you are suggesting that the difference is
>> that a designer must guess whereas an engineer uses their knowledge and
>> skill. I'm guessing you mean something more.
>>
>> You wrote "The art of designing is the art of resolving wicked problems ...
>> The art of engineering is the art of taming a problem when we know enough to
>> do so"
--
Prof. Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University Tel: 416/979-5000 x7749
350 Victoria St. Fax: 416/979-5265
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