The art and science of mess management
07 Jan, 2025
The following piece of knowledge is (humanly) summarised & gathered from the paper "The Art and Science of Mess Management" by Russell L. Ackoff.
A mess is a system of problems. There are 3 kinds of things that can be done with a problem:
1. Resolving (aka Clinical Approach)
A course of action whose outcome is good enough.
Based on judgement, experience, and intuition.
Based on qualitative analysis.
Considers the mess as a whole.
Most managers are problem resolvers.
2. Solving (aka Research Approach)
A course of action whose outcome is optimal.
Based on scientific method, techniques, and tools.
Involves identifying the parts of the problem and their interrelationships with the goal of minimizing the interrelationships, thereby minimizing the problem oh which other problem solving techniques can be applied.
Most engineers (and folks in adjacent fields) are problem solvers.
3. Dissolving (aka Design Approach)
To disolve a problem is to make it disappear.
The system or environment is changed so that the problem no longer exists.
Not all problems require a additive solution, sometime subtracting something from the system can solve the problem.
In a realistic world, all the 3 approaches are utilised in different proportions. Both the clinical and research approaches are incorporated in the design approach.
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