In 1973, Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber published “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning” in the journal Policy Science (volume 4, pp. 155-169). In this article, they characterized “wicked problems” as follows: There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem Wicked problems have no stopping rule – there is always a […]
You are leading a very successful enterprise in airplanes, automobiles, mobile devices, healthcare — or perhaps higher education. The business model that got you to where you are — successful, profitable — seems to be faltering. The growth of revenue is diminishing while costs are escalating. The costs of infrastructure — physical, financial and human […]
What will the academic world be like in 25 years – 2035? Thinking 25 years into the future is quite difficult, as is evidenced by thinking back to 1985 and imagining our current iPhones, Kindles, and pervasive social technology such as Facebook. Nevertheless, it is interesting – and potentially useful – to consider future scenarios. […]
The November 12th issue of The Economist and November 22nd issue of the New York Times provide interesting analyses of forces against change. The Lexington column in The Economist, “Farmers vs. Greens,” outlines rural America’s opposition to anything that will increase the price of fossil fuel. It notes that senators representing 11% of the U.S. […]
