Wicked problems, still wicked Save article Remove saved article

“Planning problems are wicked problems.” This observation, well known to many in the public sector, was one of the central tenets of a paper by Horst W. J. Rittel and Melvin M. Webber, both professors at the University of California, Berkeley in 1973.

While the term “wicked problems” has now been adopted and applied in reference to obstacles within organizations everywhere, the origins of the “wicked problems” concept are squarely based in public sector policy.