Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

32 Chapter1—Trans-, multi-, inter-, or cross-disciplinary?Wicked, hairy, thorny, complex or intractable?The conflict in terminology is perhaps itself asymptom of the anxiety stemming from society’sinability to discuss these issues.In a culture dominated by specialization,the interconnectedness oftoday’s challenged results in a frustratinglack of ability to describethem neatly.2—American politician Donald Rumsfeld isinfamous for this tongue twister, but John C.Gannon, Deputy Directory for Intelligence atthe CIA, describes the issue more poetically:“Secrets, at least theoretically, can be obtainedin one way or another... Mysteries, on the otherhand, are unknown or unexplained phenomena...It’s futile to try to steal the answers tothese questions.”PROBLEMSOLUTIONarea without resorting to metaphors 1 , let alone describe theterritory richly or deliver replicable results on the challengesthat lurk there. This is not to detract from the very real andtruly important contributions that have come from intensespecialization; rather we open this line of inquiry to examinethe potential for, and necessity of, horizontal efforts as well.To address a different kind of challenge one needs a differentkind of approach. Part of the complexity of the mostdifficult issues today stems from their interconnectedness.In a culture dominated by specialization,this results in a frustrating lack of ability todescribe these issues neatly. The linear approachof first fully defining a problem and then craftinga solution proves futile in situations where theproblem is ill-defined and is likely to remain sodue to lack of consensus, a dynamic context orsheer complexity. This is the difference betweenworking with secrets, which are definitively knowable withthe right insight or access, and mysteries, which alwaysinclude unknown unknowns. 2When working in mysterious territory, we gently rejectthe assumption that one first defines the problem and thencreates a solution as separate elements to be addressed insequence. We prefer to describe them as existing in a continuousfeedback loop where quick iterations of framing the problemand sketching potential solutions create a virtuous cycleof learning. The hunch of a solution inspires new questionsabout the problem space and that is where the cycle beginsagain. The picture, as it were, is formed by seeing the dots,the gaps, and the overall relationships between the two in thesame way that the human brain senses and makes sense of allsimultaneously.Innovation in mysterious situations requires an iterativeapproach, improving with each cycle of the feedback loopas ambition and opportunism are calibrated into a dynamicequilibrium. The bigger the challenges, the less likely one is toever see perfect convergence between framing of the problemand implementation of solutions. Such challenges will alwaysbe asymptotic in nature, aiming for but never reaching perfection.Because of this, working on ‘mysteries’ and avoidingburn out requires a particular kind of attitude—one that seesthe asymptote as a constant challenge rather than a frustration.