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Problems with Problems: Reconsidering the Frame of Designing as Problem-Solving
Summary
As a first approximation, many designers describe what they do as "problem-solving." This frame arose in the context of the industrial revolution, in early days of professional design. "Problem-solving" casts designers as objective experts, delivering the right answer. However, reality is messy; many answers might suffice — or none. "Problems" are not separate and clearly bounded; rather, they are deeply intertwined. As the information revolution increases scale and shifts the focus of designing to complex adaptive systems, problem-solving increasingly misses the mark; design needs a new frame.
Key Insights
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Traditional design as problem solving originates from 19th-century manufacturing constraints and assumes fixed problems with final solutions.
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Horst Rittel’s concept of wicked problems challenges stable problem definitions, suggesting complex problems are better seen as ongoing messes or tangles.
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The sensor revolution, cloud computing, big data, and AI are driving a new wave of digital transformation in design and business.
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Organizations evolve along a data learning curve from data aware to fully autonomous, model-driven, and digital twin-animated systems.
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Digital twins serve both operational and experimental roles, enabling detailed real-time simulation and improvement of physical and business systems.
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Designers are shifting from being sole problem solvers to facilitators who create conditions for systems and stakeholders to co-evolve.
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Design is moving from objects to systems and complex adaptive systems, requiring new values such as collaboration, adaptability, and embracing complexity.
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Automation and AI introduce ethical, privacy, and political challenges, making design a deeply political activity involving stewardship.
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Organizations and designers need ongoing engagement and adaptation rather than one-time solutions, shifting business relationships and consultancy roles.
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Historical design leaders like Steve Jobs distinguished between design as mere veneer and design as the fundamental soul of a creation, relevant to today’s evolving design roles.
Notable Quotes
"Designers often describe what we do as problem solving and that’s fine, but it’s tied to a 19th-century view of design as preparing things to be manufactured."
"You don’t think of raising a child or teaching a student as solving a problem, it’s an ongoing process—and so is design today."
"Horst Rittel introduced wicked problems to describe problems where consensus on definition is difficult, and calling them problems can be misleading—maybe they’re better called messes or tangles."
"The average car today has 60 to 100 sensors generating a terrifying amount of data that will increasingly make its way to the cloud."
"Small companies like Descartes Labs built supercomputers entirely in AWS with no physical servers, showing a profound shift in how computing power is accessed."
"Digital twins are replicas of dynamic systems that help both individuals and populations manage and improve operations."
"Designers are creating conditions in which systems can grow, learn, and thrive—moving beyond just solving problems to meta-design."
"Corporations are already largely self-driving often in a bad way, operating on autopilot by policies, which requires human intervention."
"Steve Jobs said design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation, expressing itself beyond just surface veneer."
"We are moving from direct work to mediated work, from wanting things perfect to good enough for now, and from complete to adaptive and growing systems."
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