Wicked problems

Defining wicked problems

This term, wicked problem, is intentionally phrased as such because these challenges have unique attributes that make it worth pausing for reflection before we dive headfirst into tackling it. Wicked problems, as defined in (Freeman 2000), reduced in (Wicked-Problems-Flower.png (5100), n.d.), and modified for my own wicked problem below, include 8 characteristics that make them a wicked hard problem to tackle.

mindmap
  Wicked Problem
    Every problem is unique
      E.G.: Water is not the same as a biological outbreak
    Every problem is connected to others
      E.G.: FEWS
    There is no clear problem definition
    Are multi-causal, multi-scler, and interconnected.
    Include multiple, invested stakeholders with different values, goals, and objectives.
    Straddel oranizational and dicsiplinary boundaries
    Solutions to an aspect have implications/ramifications across the system
    Solutions are not right or wrong, but good and bad
    Can be difficult to measure or evaluate effects of implemented solutions
    Problems are never completely solved
      They are wicked problems, not wicked puzzles

Starting to detangle a wicked problem can be unclear and vague; subject to the whims of your particular concerns and the stage of the problem you’re working at.

Water is a wicked problem

Like trying to sculpt fog in the dark with a chainsaw, water is a wicked problem. A lot of my current efforts are oriented towards the realization of a functional digital twin of the water cycle, with a particular leaning towards attempting to better communicate the accounting of the cycles’ mass balance. Most of this comes from the ideas of mass balance as laid out in hydrology, my flailings towards painting the inundated landscape, and in my attempts at measuring the world.

References

Freeman, David M. 2000. “Wicked Water Problems: Sociology and Local Water Organizations in Addressing Water Resources Policy.” Journal of the American Water Resources Association 36 (3): 483–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2000.tb04280.x.

Wicked-Problems-Flower.png (5100). n.d. Https://transitiondesignseminarcmu.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Wicked-problems-flower.png.