Tame and Wicked Problems

Hi Everyone,

Every week we send a Desk of Brad to each of you, I don’t remember exactly when we started this, sometime shortly after our acquisition of the Dutch business, but it’s been at least four or more years ago. We have never missed a Friday DOB, not once, not ever. It’s a commitment and the demonstration of a corporate habit. Consistent and intentional communication to the entire company from the CEO. What we recognized at the time is that we had an important but Tame problem – How do we keep everyone up to date and informed working across so many different time zones and geographies? One of the solutions was the DOB. 

Per my email a couple of weeks ago around Tame and Wicked problems, we’ve embarked on this journey to solve Tame problems within the company. I have been getting weekly updates from Matt on his area of focus and solutions that are being put in place. After a meeting with all the managers, he shared with me and the Steerco a list of the top Tame problems within the company. It was enlightening and insightful for me to understand issues and challenges that need to be addressed. I am very confident that issues can be resolved with a process, procedure, policy or systems change AND a companywide habit.

The identification of Tame problems is a great first step. We’ll work the problem and create solutions. The takeaway that I want everyone to have is – creating the solution won’t matter if we’re not ALL committed to the habitual changes that are required. We are a company of Smart and Happy people, let’s leverage that to help one another with the change management and habits required to be successful. If you’re interested in reading more about this topic, I highly recommend a book called “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg, if you’d like a copy please ask Harrison.



Let’s go be great!

Brad