Wicked Problems and Shallow Solutions - W3

 This week I learned about Wicked Problems.

I mean, I knew there was a difference between problems and, you know, problems.  But how heart wrenching to learn more about the incredible complexities of the issues that people think can or should be "solved." 

It led me to look at the issues and problems that I see in the world in a new light. 

Poverty. In my American Government class we had to study the Occupy Wall Street movement in context of differentiating between civil rights and civil liberties.  To read a few articles and see that these people generally considered poverty to be a simple problem with a simple solution: take money from people who have much and give to people who have little.  There: no more poverty.  But then read about the small town in China who defied the communist government and produced their own food in order to survive - what made them rich and lifted them from poverty was education and work: production of value. Poverty is caused by so many influences, tied to location, education, socialization, health, government and more. 

I'll be honest, I didn't quite get the Fishbone thing. I tried, but even mind-mapping and snowflaking don't work for my brain.  I spent an awful lot of time on the 5 whys - the process of asking Why at least 5 times while focusing on a main problem to see if you can move down the line of understanding to a root cause.  

Not THE root cause.  

A root cause. 

That's a big reason why social innovation is important and valuable as a movement and calling: there are so many problems, and each has multiple root causes - so we need people who are wiling and able to improve wherever they can. 

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