Ithuta JV

Source - Article by Bob Andrew

A ‘wicked’ problem, with the term first being coined by Horst Rittel in the 1970s, is generally defined as one that is either too difficult to solve or does not have a solution. If you do manage to solve one of these problems, they can cause or reveal other problems: the solution to a wicked problem is itself other problems. As you try to solve this type of problem the understanding of the problem changes.

Because of interrelationships with other problems, wicked problems cannot be solved in a traditional linear fashion, like ‘tame’ problems such as chess or puzzles. A wicked problem must be considered in a systems-thinking way. The well known systems thinker, Russell Ackoff, however, refers to these systems of wicked problems as a ‘mess’. As Laurence J. Peter, founder of the Peter Principle, has said: “Some wicked problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them”.

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Sometimes we tend to pretend that a wicked problem is a tame problem and use standard problem solving techniques. What happens then, however, is that in time the wicked problem surfaces again and often is more complex than ever before.

If a project with wicked problems is implemented as if the problems were tame problems, a wicked project arises. A good example of a tame project turned wicked is the ‘Death March Project’, as defined by Edward Yourdon in his book ‘Death March’, where the project becomes mission-critical, but has to be undertaken with less than half the time and resources necessary to complete the project. Wicked projects also arise when changing scope requirements and stakeholder disagreements meet up against immovable deadlines.

Wicked problems in a project can only be tamed if there is high level management support to help resolve conflicts between the project sponsor, the project sponsor and the client.

An adaptive process in which wicked problems are resolved through discussion, consensus, iterations, acceptance of, and commitment to, change is also a requirement for wicked problem solving. As the understanding of a wicked problem evolves, momentum towards a solution requires powerful techniques to ensure that everyone ‘reads from the same hymn book’. The sustainable solution of a wicked problem does not lie in all the information, data and reports generated about the problem , but rather in the collective sense-making of the project team and a shared understanding about who wants what.