Publishers Weekly
01/29/2024
Biomedical engineer Madhavan (Applied Minds) presents a scattered argument for applying principles of systems engineering (understanding how discrete factors interact to influence outcomes) to solve complicated problems. Case studies highlight engineering projects that required nontechnical knowledge to reach their full potential. For instance, Madhavan points to mid-20th-century efforts to make automobiles safer, explaining the technical aspects of airbag deployment and arguing that the devices didn’t reach their maximum effectiveness until a public relations campaign convinced drivers to pair them with seat belts. Interstitial chapters comprise a biography of Ed Link, whom Madhavan credits with embodying “the philosophy of systems engineering” for inventing early flight simulators in the 1930s, which involved reducing the sensation of flying to distinct components that could be recreated artificially. Unfortunately, the Link material comes across as tacked on rather than logically integrated with the case studies. Madhavan’s detailed discussions of the intersections of technical and civil engineering demonstrate his considerable erudition, but it’s difficult to glean takeaways from his meandering explorations of flood control on the Mississippi River, New York City’s wastewater treatment facilities, and road maintenance in 19th-century Paris. A secondary thesis arguing that systems engineering can help save democracy never really comes together. This gets lost in the weeds. Photos. (Mar.)
Rita Colwell
"Guru Madhavan’s extraordinarily creative ideas and imagination best categorize him as an engineer’s engineer. His Wicked Problems provides an absorbing account of the world’s complexities and ways to deal with them constructively and collectively."
Science - Donna Riley
"In Wicked Problems, Guru Madhavan offers a primer on . . . problem framing that are intended to empower both engineers and non-engineers as engaged civic actors. . . Wicked Problems is a reminder that to be a force for good in the world, we need—and long have needed—the intellectual power developed through the breadth of a liberal education. "
Don Norman
"In this wise, wide-ranging, and wonderful work, Guru Madhavan catalogs the kinds of engineering—that have shaped the modern world—often not in the ways expected. And all too often such engineering is carried out by those who persist and persevere in—the background to maintain our world from collapsing, and—who are ignored without credit or reward,—a point seldom appreciated by those who allocate funding and celebrate excellence."
Martin Rees
"With fascinating and wide-ranging narratives, Wicked Problems highlights the engineering inventiveness and responsibility in tackling tough challenges, and what’s essential for our common future—it should also make us all more mindful of what our everyday lives owe to ingenious engineers."
M. Stanley Whittingham
"Inspired by Edwin Link’s revolutionary work—from flight simulation to deep-sea diving—Guru Madhavan has effectively described the value of systems engineering for society. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Wicked Problems."
Daniel H. Pink
"Wicked Problems combines the rigor of engineering with the wisdom of philosophy into a one-of-a-kind strategy guide.… Guru Madhavan has crafted a manual useful from the corporate boardroom to city hall."
Nature - Susan Krumdieck
"Madhavan champions the importance of looking at seemingly technical problems through a wider lens—such as the business, policy and social aspects. . . Wicked Problems is a wake-up call for all engineers to expand their mindset"
Tim Harford
"Profound, readable, and above all humane—a substantively and stylishly engineered book."
General Stanley McChrystal
"We all struggle with maddeningly complex challenges that defy our efforts to understand, simplify, or effectively address them. In Wicked Problems, Guru Madhavan puts them into focus and then prescribes a systems approach that can allow us to get our minds, arms, and communities around them. As entertaining as it is brilliant."
Rory Sutherland
"A wonderful and energizing book.… It is an espresso machine for the imagination."
Kirkus Reviews
2024-01-13
An investigation of how to “advance engineering concepts for cultural use.”
Madhavan, senior director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering and author of Applied Minds: How Engineers Think, emphasizes that there are three categories of engineering problems: hard, soft, and messy. Hard problems are solved by tools, a formula, or perhaps another invention. Soft problems involve human behavior, so they are not solved, only “resolved.” Traffic congestion can be eliminated only at a cost no one will pay, so solutions are never optimal, only “good enough.” Messy problems emerge from ideology—e.g., the refusal to wear masks during the pandemic. Madhavan’s solution to messy problems involves words like “reframing” or phrases like “respecting cultural sensitivities.” In fact, systems engineering has a good record with all three categories, which, taken together, form the “wicked problems” of the title. Madhavan extols the work of the Wright Brothers, whose first flying machine “transformed the world.” However, it didn’t transform those machines into useful transportation because learning to fly while actually flying was dangerous, so piloting remained an occupation for adventurous young males for the next two decades. Madhavan maintains that the still obscure Edward Link deserves as much recognition as the Wrights. His Link Trainer, now in universal use, converted piloting from a risky game into a profession in which students learn their craft on the ground rather than inside a machine that could kill them. The systems engineer’s job is so complex that each of Madhavan’s six chapters discusses an area that they deal with: efficiency, vagueness, vulnerability, safety, maintenance, and resilience. His concluding epilogue is less a summary than a high-minded, well-informed criticism of engineering education’s concentration on technical achievement to the near exclusion of “cultural, ethical, social, and environmental issues.”
A thoughtful review of how engineers approach their most intractable problems.
