Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

Strategic Design31Mind the GapsLet’s zoom out for a moment and reflect on the languagethat we use to talk about problem solving and how thisterminology embeds certain assumptions into common waysof working. The words ‘problem’ and ‘solution’ often imply atightly coupled one-to-one relationship between the two—almost as if every problem had an imaginary best solution,and likewise every solution could be matched with a singleclear problem. This is an exaggeration, of course, but broadlyspeaking it is the model that drove the pursuit of knowledgein the 20th century: first understand the problem clearly,identify the solution, and then march towards it.If problems can be successfully considered in isolation,increasingly narrow definitions of problems and solutionsare helpful. This drive towards specialization encouraged theconstruction of disciplinary silos that effectively ‘own’ groupsof problems. Bounding specific problem and solution areascreates distinct cultures, jargon, practices and attitudes thatnaturally evolve within the community who spend most oftheir time focusing on those issues, further reinforcing thestrength of the silo and thus raising the barrier to entry. Thiscan happen at many different scales, occurring within professionsthemselves, different departments of an organization,and even team by team within a specific department.The combined result of this mass specialization is akin torendering an image in the pointillist style where dots are usedin place of continuous brush strokes. From afar the pointillistpainting is legible as a singular image, but step closer and yousee the image is made up of thousands of dots of paint withmany gaps between them. The deep specializations of contemporarysociety have allowed us to think that we are seeingthe big picture, when in fact our knowledge is represented bythousands of isolated dots—silos of knowledge—with plentyof gaps in between.If we extend the metaphor to include time and imaginethe development of specializations in our universities, governments,organizations, it’s as if the dots of the painting aregrowing increasingly small as they focus deeper and deeperon specific concerns. Adding more dots to maintain the qualityof the image only creates... more gaps!While we have become better at defining and tacklingissues within individual ‘dots,’ the gaps between them—thosespaces between deep silos of expertise—are where the challengesof the 21st century lie. We are barely able to name thisPROBLEMGeorges Seurat’s ‘La Parade’, (1889)Detail of ‘La Parade’SOLUTION