Wicked Problems-3: Not True or False, but Good or Bad

Back to the Full List of Wicked Problem Attributes
Something Wicked This Way Comes: A Wicked Problem.

Other Wicked Problem Posts

1. No definitive formulation of a wicked problem
2. No stopping rule
3. Solutions are not true-or-false, but better-or-worse
4. No immediate and no ultimate test of a solution
5. Every solution is a one-shot operation (no trial-and-error learning)
6. No enumerable or exhaustively describable set of solutions
7. Every wicked problem is essentially unique
8. Every wicked problem can be considered a symptom of another problem
9. The choice of explanation determines the resolution
10. Planners have no right to be wrong

Resources and Further Reading

For readers who want to dive deeper into the origins and evolution of wicked problems, here are key resources and further reading:

Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning — Horst Rittel & Melvin Webber’s 1973 paper where the concept of wicked problems and their 10 attributes was first defined.