Thoughts on Interaction Design, 2nd Edition

Chapter Seven. Wicked Problems

Understanding Wicked Problems

A wicked problem is a form of large-scale social or cultural problem that is difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements. These dynamic, system problems are bucketed as “poverty” or “education”—large containers that fail to identify the nuanced nature of the actual issues themselves. For example, people in need of financial support may have difficulty paying their rent, feeding their family, holding a job, getting a job in the first place, and so on, a string of problems that lead to and are related to a state of destitution called poverty ...