When I came across the concept of tame and wicked problems it was a real revelation. As soon as the concept had been articulated, I got it because it was so blindingly obvious. What I didn’t really get, was why it had taken so long to discover the difference, and given the introspective nature of me, why it hadn’t dawned on me on some intuitive level before.
I’m an artist, who thinks a lot about the nature of art. Far more thinking than making, in fact. Thank heavens for minimalism, systems, and conceptual art.
I’m also a practical, operational, business processy type of thinker. A practical problem solver.
Problems, riddles, conundrums, thorny issues, musings, in one form or another have been central to my adult life. I’m introspective, I think a lot, but I’m a doer, so the thinking often has some form of physical output. Notebooks full of ideas and connections, project plans and implementation strategies and logs, fit gap analysis etc.
So when tame and wicked problems were suddenly clarified to me. A lot of the mental turmoil became much simpler.
Differentiating between the two and knowing which you are dealing with is worth the investment in so many ways.
