1 RTI: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Wicked Problems Ingrid Oxaal & Debra Price-Ellingstad Office of Special Education Programs June 21, 2006

2 What is Fragmentation? People see themselves as more separate than united Information and knowledge may be chaotic or scattered Fragmented pieces are perspectives, understandings and intentions of the collaborators Hidden fragmentation – when stakeholders don’t realize there are incompatible assumptions

3 Social Complexity The number and diversity of stakeholders (players with a stake in the outcome) Kinds of stakeholder diversity: Individual differences in character and learning style Professional differences in expertise and language use Different organizations and departments represented (“stove pipes”) Differences in role and authority Each additional stakeholder adds to density and complexity of information flow

4 How We Approach Problems The Waterfall Problem Time Solution Gather data Analyze data Formulate solution Implement solution

5 Problem solving is Opportunity-Driven Early attempts at solutions Experiments Prototypes Hunches Late efforts to understand the real problem How We Approach Novel Problems The Earthquake

6 Tame Problems Simple or Complex Relatively well defined Lend themselves to traditional linear analysis Have stopping points Belong to a class of similar problems which can be solved in a similar manner Have agreed upon solutions which can be tired, evaluated and judged right or wrong Have solutions that can be easily tried and abandoned. Have a limited set of alternative solutions

7 Wicked Problems Dynamic sets of complex and interacting issues Often ill defined and ambiguous Cause can be explained in numerous ways Understood only in social contexts Symptom of another wicked problem Both problem and solution are stakeholder dependent Associated with strong moral, political and professional issues No stopping rules Solutions are not true-or-false, but better or worse You don’t understand the problem fully without trying solutions One-shot operations

8 Taming Wicked Problems Lay out alternative understandings of: The problem Competing interests Priorities Constraints Operate through group interaction and iteration Generate ownership through transparency Shared understanding leads to shared commitment to possible solutions