p.390 Characteristics of the Systems Analyst and Designer
First, his attitude should be somewhat detached from the problem at hand: he should
try to be rational, objective and scientific in attacking his problems. Secondly, he is characterized by the attempt
to grasp the whole of the system rather than someone who undertakes piecemeal improvement... the
approach of the systems analyst and designer must necessarily be interdisciplinary.
p.391 Rationality has many definitions and I shall choose a particularly simple one: rational
behaviour means trying to anticipate the consequences of contemplated actions.
p.393 A problem can be stated as a discrepancy, as something as it is compared with something as it ought
to be... in wicked problems there are many explanations for the same discrepancy... Depending on which explanation
you choose for the discrepancy, the solution will be led into different directions.
p.393 all our problems are wicked... you cannot understand and formulate the problem without having solved
it.
p.394 for wicked problems there are no specialists. The expertise which you need in dealing
with a wicked problem is usually distributed over many people... There are no experts (which is irritation for experts), and
if experts there are, they are only experts in guiding the process of dealing with a wicked problem, but
not for the subject matter of the problem.
p.394 when you develop a solution to a wicked problem, at every single step a judgement is made which is
not based on scientific expertise. There is always an 'ought to be' statement involved. For each step there is a conclusion
which ends with 'do this and that'.
p.395 because we cannot anticipate all the consequences of our plans, every plan, every treatment
of a wicked problem is a venture, if not an adventure.
p.395 I hope I have shown that you cannot be rational in planning: the more you try, the less it helps...
The more control you want to exert and the better founded you want your judgement to be, the more intuitive you have to be.
