Everything about Wicked

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

1. Read the overview: WickedA 5-minute orientation
2. Skim a recent paper: Design thinking as an effective method for problem-setting and needfinding for entrepreneurial teams addressing wicked problemsInfluential work since 2022
3. Pick up a classic book: Danse MacabreThe most-reprinted book on the subject
4. Read the landmark paper: Wicked Problems in Design ThinkingCited 2,169 times
5. Go sideways: The Wicked YearsA closely related topic
6. Go sideways: Gregory MaguireA closely related topic

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

• Wicked Problems in Design Thinking

  Richard Buchanan · 1992 · Design Issues · 2,169 citations

• Overcoming the tragedy of super wicked problems: constraining our future selves to ameliorate global climate change

  Kelly Levin, Benjamin Cashore, Steven Bernstein · 2012 · Policy Sciences · 1,245 citations

• Wicked Problems

  Brian W. Head, John Alford · 2013 · Administration & Society · 1,230 citations

• Wicked Problems, Knowledge Challenges, and Collaborative Capacity Builders in Network Settings

  Edward P. Weber, Anne M. Khademian · 2008 · Public Administration Review · 840 citations

• Business models and business model innovation: Between wicked and paradigmatic problems

  Nicolai J. Foss, Tina Saebi · 2018 · Long Range Planning · 602 citations

• Wicked evolution: Can we address the sociobiological dilemma of pesticide resistance?

  Fred Gould, Zachary S. Brown, Jennifer Kuzma · 2018 · Science · 536 citations

• Fisheries and coastal governance as a wicked problem

  Svein Jentoft, Ratana Chuenpagdee · 2009 · Marine Policy · 527 citations

• Ecosystem management as a wicked problem

  Ruth DeFries, Harini Nagendra · 2017 · Science · 461 citations

🆕 Influential since 2022

• Design thinking as an effective method for problem-setting and needfinding for entrepreneurial teams addressing wicked problems

  Rahmin Bender-Salazar · 2023 · Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship · 119 citations

• Grand challenges and platform ecosystems: Scaling solutions for wicked ecological and societal problems

  Paavo Ritala · 2023 · Journal of Product Innovation Management · 106 citations

• The wicked problem of AI and assessment

  Thomas Corbin, Margaret Bearman, David Boud · 2025 · Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education · 101 citations

• Experimental investigation of a developed tubular solar still with longitudinal wicked fins

  Ibrahim Alatawi, Tayyab Subhani, Mohamed M.Z. Ahmed · 2022 · Renewable Energy · 77 citations

• Design thinking with constructivist learning increases the learning motivation and wicked problem-solving capability—An empirical research in Taiwan

  Cheng-An Tsai, Mei-Yi Winnie Song, Yen-Fen Lo · 2023 · Thinking Skills and Creativity · 64 citations

📚 Books worth reading

• Danse MacabreStephen King · 1980
• A Lion Among Men (The Wicked Years, Book 3)Gregory Maguire · 2008
• CinderellaVera Southgate, Ladybird Books Staff · 1964
• PhantasmaKaylie Smith · 2024
• The Runaway HeiressAnne O'Brien · 2004
• The devil's protectionSusan Clitheroe · 1995
• Kids at WorkRussell Freedman · 1994
• One Blazing NightJo Leigh · 2016

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics

• The Wicked Years The Wicked Years is a series of revisionist dark fantasy novels written by American author Gregory Maguire. It is inspired by L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel…
• Gregory Maguire Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and several dozen other novels…
• Wicked (Maguire novel) Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is a 1995 dark fantasy novel by American writer Gregory Maguire, with illustrations by Douglas…
• Leviathan (disambiguation) Look up leviathan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Leviathan is a Biblical sea monster. Leviathan may also refer to: Leviathan (Hobbes book), a 1651…
• Vortex (disambiguation) Look up vortex in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A vortex is a dynamic phenomenon of fluids. Vortex may also refer to: Vortex ring, a torus-shaped vortex…
• Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror may refer to: Mirror, Mirror (1979 film), an American made-for-television drama film Mirror, Mirror (1990 film), a 1990 horror film Mirror…
• Hex Look up hex, hex-, or hexa- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Hex usually refers to: Curse, a type of malicious wish Hexadecimal, a base-16 number system…
• Monster (disambiguation) Look up monster in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology…