Wicked Systems

http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2007systems/Thursday/AM/Track8/UnderstandingSocialNetworks_BriefingFINAL.pdf

It is possible to correlate the product of the social interaction of

the individuals involved, with the properties of wicked problems.

• Relevant correlations:  Requirement articulation

– Property 1:  There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem.

– Property 7: Every wicked problem is essentially unique

– Property 6:  Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an exhaustively

describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set of

permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan

“Social network analysis is based on an assumption of the importance of relationships

among interacting units.  The social network perspective encompasses theories,

models, and applications that are expressed in terms of relational concepts or

processes.”

[1]

• Social network analysis should not be outside the capability of a systems engineer,

but rather its benefits would fold nicely into mission engineering—a core component

of systems engineering.

– Mission engineering is that often overlooked aspect in which the system

developers ask the ‘big picture’ question: “why is this system being

developed?”

[2]

– Social network analysis makes the question more fundamental: “Why is this

system being developed and who is important to its sustained success?”

• “The purpose of social network analysis is to provide insightful information and

inferences on the organization and structural properties of a network, given its nodes

and relations.

– Property 8: Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another

problem

– Property 5: Every solution to a wicked problem is a “one-shot operation”;

because there is no opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts

significantly

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