We were initially our own worst enemies in this undertaking, victims of a way of thinking to which we engineers are dangerously susceptible. This way of thinking is characterized by the conceit that all things may be planned in advance and then directly implemented according to the plan’s detailed specification.
from The Lessons of Lucasfilm’s Habitat
I came across this quote today. It expresses a mentality that I was stuck in for most of high school and the early part of university. I thought the world was ordered, scientific and susceptible to reason. If an argument was logical, it was true. Even more, people would listen to it.
There’s another dose of reality for the engineer/manager/computer scientist on the topic of Wicked Problems.
Pingback: Planning for Societal Change | Meander