I’ve spent a lot of time wrestling with what people call Wicked Problems. They’re the kind of challenges that seem impossible to solve—messy, unpredictable, and constantly shifting.

When Bryce Biggs and I co-created the Wicked Challenges™ Whitepaper, we weren’t trying to redefine what a Wicked Problem is. Instead, we wanted to shift the way organisations engage with them. Rather than seeing them as a dead-end, we reframed them as Wicked Challenges™, something that can be resolved rather than solved—and that difference in thinking changes everything.

Recently, I revisited the article Embracing Wicked Problems on Medium, thank you Richard Copley, and found some useful dot joins, as well as some clear distinctions between that perspective and ours- the same and different. Here’s what stood out.

The Medium article follows the classic Wicked Problems narrative from Rittel & Webber, arguing that these problems are inherently unsolvable. You can’t fix them—only manage them.

In contrast, in our whitepaper, we challenge that notion. Instead of treating them as impossible problems, we reframe them as Wicked Challenges™—a way for organisations to take control of defining success rather than chasing an elusive "right answer."

✅ Same: Both perspectives agree that traditional, linear problem-solving methods don’t work. Wicked problems require adaptive approaches.

🔀 Different: The Medium article accepts that wicked problems are unsolvable, while we believe they can be resolved through a structured approach—the Six ITs™ (Resource IT, Collabor-IT, Frame IT, Innov-IT, Measure IT, ITer-IT!).

The Medium article rightly highlights Systems Thinking as a crucial lens for tackling wicked problems. It focuses on interdependencies, feedback loops, and unintended consequences, which is fundamental when working in complex problem spaces.

We built on this in our whitepaper, but we didn’t just stop at acknowledging complexity—we operationalised it through the Six ITs™ framework. This gives teams a way to act on complexity, rather than just observe it.

✅ Same: Both perspectives agree that wicked challenges exist in complex, interconnected systems, and understanding those systems is key.

🔀 Different: The Medium article keeps Systems Thinking at the conceptual level, while our framework translates it into practical actions that organisations can take.

One of the key points in the Medium article is the need for multiple perspectives. No one person or expert can solve a wicked problem alone. That’s something we fundamentally agree with.

In the Six ITs™, we built this principle directly into Collabor-IT, which is all about breaking down silos and getting everyone in the room. The more we involve diverse voices, the better we can frame the challenge (which is another IT—Frame IT!).

✅ Same: Both perspectives highlight that wicked challenges can’t be solved in isolation. Engagement and collaboration are critical.

🔀 Different: The Medium article stops at recognising the need for multiple perspectives, whereas our approach provides a structured way to bring those perspectives together and drive action.

If there’s one thing we all agree on, it’s that there’s no final solution to a wicked problem. These challenges evolve over time, and any attempt to address them needs to be dynamic and adaptable.

This is exactly why we built ITer-IT as the sixth and final IT. Iteration is not an afterthought—it’s the mechanism that ensures ongoing progress.

✅ Same: Both perspectives agree that there’s no fixed endpoint—wicked challenges require ongoing iteration.

🔀 Different: The Medium article talks about adaptation in a broad sense, while we turn it into an actionable step within a structured process.

Reading Embracing Wicked Problems reminded me why we wrote the whitepaper in the first place. Wicked challenges aren’t something we accept—they’re something we engage with.

We took the theory and made it practical—a shift from just understanding wicked problems to actively resolving them.

If your organisation is facing a Wicked Challenge™, don’t just label it and move on. Reframe it. Resource it. Collaborate. Innovate. Measure. Iterate. That’s how real change happens.

What’s the Wicked Challenge™ you’re working on right now? Let’s tackle it together. 🚀