Monday, June 2, 2008

Strategy as a wicked problem?

In a recent Harvard Business Review article (Strategy as a Wicked Problem) John Camillus lists the ten properties of wicked problems.

"Companies tend to ignore one compilations along the way: they can't develop models of the increasingly complex environment in which they operate. As a result, contemporary strategic-planning processes, don't help enterprises cope with the big problems they face. ... I believe many strategy issues aren't just tough or persistent - they're wicked."

Properties of a wicked problem:
  1. There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem
  2. Wicked problems have no stopping rule
  3. Solutions to wicked problems are not true or false, but good or bad
  4. There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem
  5. Every solution to a sicked problem is a "one-shot" operation; because there is no opportunity to learn by trial and error, every attempt count significantly.
  6. Wicked problems do not have an exhaustively describable set of potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan.
  7. Every wicked problem is essentially unique
  8. Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.
  9. The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways.
  10. The planner has not right ot be wrong.

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