{"id":22524,"date":"2013-05-21T03:21:41","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T03:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=22524"},"modified":"2013-05-21T17:52:21","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T17:52:21","slug":"wicked-problems-mind-mapping-and-ibis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=22524","title":{"rendered":"Wicked problems, mind mapping, and IBIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[by Lynn C. Rees, after a reminder by Charles Cameron]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wikipedia defines a\u00a0mind map<\/a>\u00a0as:<\/p>\n

…a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the center, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches. Categories can represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items related to a central key word or idea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Using visuals to represent and explore issues has long interested me. The primary tool I use now is Freeplane<\/a>,\u00a0a software application for drawing\u00a0mind maps. While many mind mapping applications<\/a>\u00a0are available, I use Freeplane because:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. it’s <\/span>free\/open source software<\/a> (FOSS)<\/li>\n
  2. it’s trivial for me to customize and extend its core features with my own software<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \nA central and popular conceit of FOSS is Linus’ Strongly Worded Suggestion<\/del>\u00a0Law:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

    “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”; or more formally: “Given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix will be obvious to someone”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    This conceit, over-hyped for most FOSS projects, is true in narrower cases. Since I use a few obscure Freeplane features, I’ve encountered a few obscure Freeplane bugs. Since Freeplane’s source<\/a> is freely and publicly available and I’m a software engineer, I\u00a0fixed some of those bugs myself<\/a>. Some bugs I merely reported for Freeplane’s developers to\u00a0fix<\/a>.\u00a0Some bugs I fixed but the fix hasn’t\u00a0been merged into the main program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    This isn’t a significant issue. Since it is FOSS, I can take Freeplane’s source code, apply my fixes and customizations to it, and run my own version of the software which, under the terms of the GNU General Public License<\/a>, I also make\u00a0publicly\u00a0available<\/a>.\u00a0Hoping to benefit from Linus’ Law myself, I’ve released source for some of my\u00a0custom Freeplane add-ons<\/a>\u00a0for the Freeplane user community to use.<\/p>\n

    An add-on I released today is a first attempt to represent and explore a not infrequent topic here<\/a> at Zenpundit:\u00a0wicked problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Horst Rittel<\/a>, who first devised the concept, ascribed ten characteristics<\/a> to wicked problems:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem.<\/li>\n
    2. Wicked problems have no stopping rule<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    3. Solutions to wicked problems are not true-or-false, but better or worse.<\/li>\n
    4. There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem.<\/li>\n
    5. Every solution to a wicked problem is a “one-shot operation”; because there is no opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts significantly.<\/li>\n
    6. Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan.<\/li>\n
    7. Every wicked problem is essentially unique.<\/li>\n
    8. Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.<\/li>\n
    9. The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem’s resolution.<\/li>\n
    10. The planner has no right to be wrong (planners are liable for the consequences of the actions they generate).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Rittel’s own solution for solving wicked problems was\u00a0the Issue-Based Information System<\/a>\u00a0(IBIS). IBIS involves four elements:<\/p>\n