What are the qualities of a wicked problem?

I’m 100% on board with thinking about wicked problems…

Personally Wicked

What do wicked problems look like on a personal scale?

Dear Nobody,

Does a wicked problem have to be world-spanning? The classic examples all seem to be huge, the solutions out of reach because it would require…

Dragons Considered Harmful

Freeing the dragons from our own mind

Kevin and Buster,

I’m a designer and facilitator by training, and one technique that I often lean on in brainstorms is called “lateral thinking.” When a discussion…

Where are the dragon eggs?

Can we identify a source or a pattern that leads to the emergence of a new wicked problem?

Hi Buster,

Dear David,

You’re referencing what I think is a common false choice that we find ourselves trapped in when we think about the relationship between hope and heroes. The Walking Dead is a good example of how this choice feels. We don’t like feeling hopeless and will of course choose to stop watching entertainment that reminds…

Kevin,

I like what you did with the different kinds of dragons. It’s helpful to think about how dragons can’t exist in a vacuum. Wicked problems aren’t intrinsically problematic. They are only wicked problems from a specific perspective. And I can now better understand why the “there is no single perspective that fully…