Just this week I was reading “Notes on the Synthesis of Form” by Christopher Alexander (CA), which in someways kickstarted the “design thinking” craze. Later on

Just this week I was reading “Notes on the Synthesis of Form” by Christopher Alexander (CA), which in someways kickstarted the “design thinking” craze. Later on, CA recanted many of his ideas about the systematization of design, and converged with Rittel regarding “wicked problems”. That said, the first half of the above book is still a fantastic read on why wicked problems tend to be hard when attempted in “self conscious mode”. One of the most thoughtful pieces I’ve read in a while... and it’s an intuitive, breezy and relatively short (for a book) read. Here’s Rittel’s seminal paper on problems with the “planning/design“ approach towards wicked problems: https://archive.epa.gov/reg3esd1/data/web/pdf/rittel%2bwebber%2bdilemmas%2bgeneral_theory_of_planning.pdf https://archive.epa.gov/reg3esd1/data/web/pdf/rittel%2bwebbe...