Wicked Problems => Design Thinking— Day 4
1.0 Recap
Yesterday, I wrote about Human Thinking patterns, a structured way of thinking. I talked about how these patterns prevent us from thinking differently about problems and also inhibit us from finding new ways of solving them. You can have a look here.
2.0 Wicked Problems
Today, I read about wicked problems and how you can solve it using design thinking. It can also be called complex or tricky problem. These problems are usually impossible to solve and needs a deep understanding in order to come up with an innovative solution.
I really love this topic because it has made me realize that lots of societal issues affecting us today do not have straightforward solutions, and also these problems are often times interconnected to one another.
3.0 What makes a problem wicked?
A problem is termed wicked when:
- it’s impossible to solve
- the factors that define the problem are incomplete
- they are difficult to define
- there is no final solution to the problem
- you can not test the solution of the problem
3.1 An example of wicked problem
Most wicked problems are societal in nature, meaning it doesn’t have a straightforward solution or there are no clear answers to them. Most of these problems can be found in education, security, poverty, climate change, and the likes.
One example that comes to mind is the demolition of houses and shops in Abeokuta, Ogun State which started in 2013. The government was trying to expand and build more major roads in the city so that innovative companies can come in and establish their businesses, thereby generating more revenue in the state. But one major problem it created was making people lose their sources of livelihood because their shops and houses were taken away from them. Things such as services and products became relatively high, and thus increasing the rate of poverty in the city.
Wicked problems are intertwined and solving one problem might cause other problems to occur.
4.0 How can Design Thinking solve wicked problems?
One way of solving wicked problems is by breaking down these complex problems into smaller ones and solving them in bits. You also need to take an Agile approach to reiterate and test your solution to get the most possible answer.
5.0 Resources
The best way to learn is by asking questions and letting people know how you understand the topic. Feel free to leave a comment, we will definitely learn from it🙂.
