Wicked Problems-1 You Can’t Fix What Won’t Stay Broken

🔍 What It Means

In traditional problem-solving, you define the problem, then design the solution.

But wicked problems laugh at that order.

You only begin to understand the problem as you attempt to solve it. Every stakeholder brings a different lens. Every solution changes the shape of the problem. The act of defining and solving are no longer sequential — they’re inseparable.

“The information needed to understand the problem depends upon one’s idea for solving it.”
— Horst Rittel

It’s a dynamic, recursive loop — not a clean definition-solution process.

⚙️ Why It Matters in Business and Policy

• Stakeholder conflict: Marketing, operations, IT, and leadership may each describe the same issue in completely different terms.
• Project drift: Scoping a system migration, DEI initiative, or ESG rollout may shift midstream as new constraints and opportunities surface.
• Analysis paralysis: Waiting for a fully defined problem often means never acting — or acting too late.

📊 Real-World Examples

✅ Digital Transformation in Healthcare
A provider launched a system migration to improve patient data access. But as nurses and admin staff joined the design sprints, the real issue emerged: workflow overload and alert fatigue. The problem wasn’t “bad tech” — it was burnout. The solution changed the problem.

❌ Public Transit Redesign
A city invested millions redesigning low-ridership bus routes. But they hadn’t defined the real problem: safety concerns, poor lighting, shift-worker schedules, and lack of real-time tracking. They solved the wrong problem — and riders stayed away.

📋 Checklist: Do You Have This Attribute?

• 🔍 You can’t get agreement on what the core problem is
• 🔁 Your solution ideas keep reshaping your understanding of the problem
• 🧭 Every department or stakeholder sees the problem differently

⚠️ If you checked even one of these, you’re dealing with a wicked problem.

🧭 How to Navigate It

• 🔄 Design in loops, not lines: Treat planning, action, and learning as an integrated cycle. Adaptive design thinking works better than waterfall models.
• 🤝 Include diverse voices early: Surface conflicting definitions before committing to a single one. Friction here is valuable insight.
• ⚡ Prototype and test quickly: Use small interventions to make the problem reveal itself. You often need to “try” before you can “see.”